Span-of-Control: Cutting Frontline Leadership


Already Overloaded, Now Underfunded: What the Data Says About Cutting Frontline Nursing Leadership

Nurse manager span-of-control has been on the agenda for years. But knowing it's a problem and knowing what to do about it are two different things.

Research shows that for every 8-hour shift, the average acute care nurse manager is responsible for completing more than 24 hours of work. Yet the most common measure of workload — headcount — misses almost everything managers actually carry.

We've compiled the data on what nurse manager workloads actually looks like along with what leading organizations are doing about it.

Download the case study. Build the case.

See how our member health system quantified nurse manager workload beyond headcount and what they actually did about it.

Enter your email to download an example of what our research did for our member organization and take the next step to see what it can do for yours.

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What You'll Learn

Most health systems know nurse manager workload is a problem, but few know what to do about it. Download the case study, close the gap and learn:

Why headcount misses almost everything. One in four nurse managers work 65 hours or more each week trying to absorb the difference. Until you measure what's actually driving that load, you can't address it.

How to quantify workload at a system level. Nursing Catalyst's span-of-control benchmarking tracks 20 variables that headcount ignores. The result is a plan built on your system's specific data vs. generic industry averages.

What one health system actually did about it. See how one CNO used benchmarking results to build the internal case for change and what that case made possible, including decreased falls, improved retention and fewer vacancies. These are outcomes that are measurable, attributable, and repeatable.

Download the case study to see the full benchmarking approach, the variables measured, and the outcomes one member health system achieved, then take the next step to see what it can do for yours.

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About The Health Management Academy

Since 1998, The Health Management Academy has cultivated the premier membership-based community of healthcare’s most influential CXOs from top U.S. health systems, as well as decision makers from innovative industry companies.

We cultivate exceptional peer groups, providing original market insights, world-class leadership development programs, and novel member alliances to more than 2,000 health system senior executives and 200 industry organizations.

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