As with most hospitals, labor is the largest budget expense at the Providence Alaska Medical Center (PAMC) in Anchorage. But benchmarking indicated that staff utilization at PAMC, a part of the Providence Health System, was above the 75th percentile of the national average. To remedy this, in October 2003, a multidisciplinary team (nursing, leadership, finance and physicians) began a Six Sigma project to create a more effective process for scheduling staff.
During the Define phase of the project, the team found that the hospital’s staffing dollars – which includes salaries, benefits and contract labor – were substantially over budget. Roughly 75 percent of the variance could be linked to nursing salaries and the use of registered nurses from outside staffing resources. Within the nursing area, the team found that the adult critical care unit (ACC) was 22 percent over budget for staffing … click here to read ahead
