Estimation of Nursing Staff in Selected Hospitals of Ilam and Ahvaz Provinces, Western Iran

Abstract

Background:The nurses as the largest group among different groups of hospital workforce play a crucial role in success of the hospital activities and promotion of community health. Objectives: This study aimed to obtain an estimation of the necessary nursing workforce status in educational hospitals affiliated to Ilam and Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences based on the scientific formula. Materials and Methods: This research was a cross sectional-descriptive study, which was done in hospitals affiliated to Ilam and Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences during 2010. Using three researcher-made forms, data was collected from all clinical, para-clinical, financial, administrative and support departments of hospitals. Data was analyzed in accordance to the standards of Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education using the Excel software. Results:The results showed that the nursing staffs in the 42 wards (89.5 %) were lower than the standards, only one ward (2 %) matched the standards and the rest of the wards (8.5%) were higher than the standards. The organizational dislocation (utilization of nurses in non-related jobs) of nursing staffs obtained for Imam Khomeini of Ilam, Mostafa Khomeini, Taleghani, Razi and Imam Khomeini of Ahvaz Hospitals were 8, 5, 3, 8 and 21, respectively. Conclusion: Generally, the studied hospitals were faced with a lack of nursing manpower and distribution of manpower was not appropriate. Proper planning and management of manpower in accordance with the lack of personnel, compensates and achieves the standards required for hospital's nursing manpower and this would lead to an increase in the efficiency of hospitals activities and can provide satisfaction for the nursing staff.

Factors influencing registered nurses perception of their overall job satisfaction: a qualitative study

“…Although healthcare facilities in Iran need 220 000 nurses in order to deliver optimal nursing care (Bahadori et al. ; Zare et al. ), it is estimated that the workforce numbers include approximately 98 020 registered nurses (RN) in Iran only, less than 50% of the required 220 000 nurses (World Health Organization ).…”

“…The country is facing issues with regard to nursing graduates who do not choose nursing as a career and many nurses who migrate to other countries (Zare et al 2009). Although healthcare facilities in Iran need 220 000 nurses in order to deliver optimal nursing care (Bahadori et al 2013;Zare et al 2009), it is estimated that the workforce numbers include approximately 98 020 registered nurses (RN) in Iran only, less than 50% of the required 220 000 nurses (World Health Organization 2012).…”

Nurse staffing norm in Iran Hospitals: What features should be included for success?

“…[7] Nurses as the largest group among human resources in hospitals, have essential role in hospital success and promoting community health. [8910] Therefore for hospitals proper performance, it is essential to develop standards of human resource employment based on appropriate indexes for different type of hospitals. These standards along with opinion of experts can be used by hospitals for proper distribution of their human resource.…”

Barriers against required nurse estimation models applying in Iran hospitals from health system experts' point of view

“…The standards of human resources in health care are defined in two levels of expected quantity and quality of required staff ( 4 ). The use of an acceptable and practical standard for estimating the workforce is an essential and undeniable fact in health care organizations ( 5 ). One of the most important challenges of hospitals in the Iranian health system is inadequate distribution of human resources ( 6 ).…”