Benchmarking help FTE's

[edconklin]

Does anyone use benchmarking to determine FTE's. I am finding it’s hard to find someone to benchmark with. We are open 24/7 trauma center. We maintain walk-ups for supplies 24/7 (but we are not the stock room) we maintain 80 crash carts, 10 wound vacs. We do the bed rentals and equipment, and dirty rounds. 50 case carts a day or 180 sets heavy ortho and general surgery.

[jrc]

We used to use a benchmarking agency, but our organization decided to drop them. Our department's responsibilities sound remarkably similar to yours. Unfortunately, the measure for determining our staffing was hours worked per 100 items processed. I got creative in determining what constituted an "item processed." I decided that everything we moved from a dirty state to a clean state was an item processed. Every instrument set we sterilized, every peel pack, every IV pump we cleaned, every code cart was counted. I could not count requisitions filled, but if there was a way to include it I would have. Because there was not, I got rid of the shelves that housed the items we issued out to the house. If we weren't going to get the staff to perform the function, we got rid of the function.

[sheper1]

When you counted the items that went from dirty to clean did you count them again when you sterilized them?

[jrc]

When you counted the items that went from dirty to clean did you count them again when you sterilized them?

Any item was only counted once. I was creative, but not dishonest :)