In an article co-written with Rhonda Anderson, RN, DNSc, FAAN, FACHE for the October 2009 issue of Nursing Economic$, Dr. Karlene Kerfoot, Chief Nurse Executive at Aurora Health Care, stated, “the role and function of nurses in acute care settings must be supported by evidence related to outcomes.” Noting that “evidence-based staffing goes beyond ‘filling a hole’ in the schedule and the concept that ‘a nurse is a nurse is a nurse,’” Anderson and Kerfoot assert that in a pay-for-performance world “we need the right nurse for the right patient at the right time to meet … safety and quality outcomes.”

As it sought to achieve this objective in its 13-hospital, not-for-profit system, Aurora determined that Clairvia CVM® Staff Manager offered the best solution. “With Staff Manager, we’re implementing an evidence-based staffing system that offers measurable, valid and sustainable benefits in delivering high-quality, cost-effective and safe patient care,” says Jean Beaudette, MA, RN, NEA-BC, CNE and Director of Patient Care Services at Aurora. Moving forward, Beaudette says, the organization intends to investigate how best to share and leverage the data in Staff Manager with other information systems to improve system-wide efficiencies and results.

In their article, Anderson and Kerfoot ask whether nurse leaders are “positioned and prepared to use data to determine their appropriate evidence-based care model and translate those data into budget and staffing decisions.” Of course, we believe Clairvia CVM offers an excellent answer to that question, but we’d also like to learn from your perspective. How is your organization creating optimum value at the point of care?