Abstract
As a part of revision of medical fee scheme in 2006, a new nursing distribution standard has been introduced to achieve proper distribution of nursing personnel for acute setting, which is so-called 7 : 1 nursing. Since then, number of hospitals introduced 7 : 1 nursing have been increasing. In these hospitals, the increased basic fee for hospitalization should lead to an increase in hospital revenue. However, hospital revenue may decrease because of the excess personnel expense increased. Though hospitals can reduce personnel expenses by employing novice or part-time nurses to increase their revenues, however, it is essential to employ experienced nurses in hospitals that provide highly advanced medical treatment; this leads to an increase in personnel expenses. Consequently, revenues have to be increased to compensate for this. In this study, we estimated the in come and expenditure for converting general ward rooms (15 beds) in a municipal hospital's Department of Haematology to aseptic cleanrooms. Furthermore, we analyzed the effects of such room conversion on hospital management. According to our estimation, although introducing the 7 : 1 nursing leads to a decrease in revenue, the room conversion may significantly increase the revenue and markedly improve the income and expenditure of the entire hospital. Converting general ward rooms to aseptic cleanrooms and employing nurses who can provide highly advanced medical treatment could increase the treatment fee per patient, facilitate the patients with advanced diseases, improve the operating ratio of beds, and reduce hospital days, and increase hospital revenues.
