Title: Rescheduling nursing staff with information technology-based staffing solutions: a scoping review

Authors: Outi Tuominen; Heljä Lundgrén-Laine; Mervi Flinkman; Sirkku Boucht; Sanna Salanterä

Addresses: Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Kiinamyllynkatu 4-8, PO Box 52, 20521 Turku, Finland; Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014 University of Turku, Finland ' Central Finland Health Care District, Jyväskylä, Finland; Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014 University of Turku, Finland ' The Branch of Social Relations and Development, The Union of Health and Social Care Professionals, Tehy, Finland; Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014 University of Turku, Finland ' Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Kiinamyllynkatu 4-8, PL 52, 20521 Turku, Finland; Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014 University of Turku, Finland ' Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014 University of Turku, Finland; Development Unit, Turku University Hospital, Kiinamyllynkatu 4-8, PL 52, 20521 Turku, Finland

Abstract: Rescheduling to cover the sudden absences of nursing staff members is a time-consuming part of a nurse manager's daily work. The use of information technology-based (IT-based) staffing solutions is a potential solution to this issue. In order to address this challenge and improve the rescheduling process, this scoping review was created to identify, describe and analyse published papers focused on nursing staff rescheduling. The papers were analysed from the perspectives of nursing staff, patient care and organisational outcomes in hospital settings. The results showed that using IT-based staffing solutions for rescheduling can reduce both organisations' staffing costs and nurse managers' work tasks. Patient care consequences related to such solutions were not described in the reviewed papers. However, floating may also have an impact on the quality of patient care due to the mixing of nursing staff members' professional roles and skills. There is also a need for additional information about the usability of IT-based staffing solutions.

Keywords: personnel staffing and scheduling; rescheduling; nursing staff; management; hospital; rescheduling outcomes; information technology-based staffing solutions; scoping review.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2018.098378

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2018 Vol.17 No.2/3, pp.145 - 167

Accepted: 30 Jun 2018
Published online: 18 Mar 2019 *

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