TITLE:
Implementing a Patient Acuity Tool to Address Fair Nursing Assignments
AUTHORS:
Tonny Mao
KEYWORDS:
Patient Acuity Tool, Nursing Assignment
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.15 No.8,
August
14,
2025
ABSTRACT: Aim: Creating a fair nursing assignment by utilizing a patient acuity tool. Background: Creating a nursing assignment by patient-nurse ratios oftentimes leads to dissatisfaction of assignment and unfair workloads. Barriers in creating a fair nursing assignment are ineffective distribution of patients and patient acuity. After a comprehensive literature review and a unit-based needs assessment, a 30-bed unit will create fair nursing assignments by implementing a patient acuity tool. Methods: A modified unit-specific patient acuity tool. Nurses’ self-surveys pre-and post-implementation of the patient acuity tool over a 6-month period. Results: Surveys reveal nurses are satisfied with their nursing assignment post-implementation over a 6-month period. The tool captured a good representation of the patients’ acuity with 67% of charge nurse respondents say they utilize the tool when making nursing assignments. Conclusion: Staff were satisfied with their nursing assignment by utilizing a unit-specific patient acuity tool.