Some Findings in Management of Staffing during the Introductory Period of DPC

Abstract

The present study focused on nursing departments in the periods before and after the introduction of DPC in an attempt to clarify how the departments perceived staffing and staffing operations and developed plans and measures to address staffing issues. Subjects were seven nurses (directors, vicedirectors, and managers) working at two advanced treatment hospitals in the Kanto region. Semistructured interviews were conducted in order to summarize the facilities and nursing departments and ascertain the changes in staffing in nursing wards. The results clarified the following: 1) the first project for the nursing departments was to increase staffing, which was facilitated by a strategic shift in the structure of the nursing departments and the hospital upper management; 2) the foundation of staffing operations was top-down under the leadership of the director, but its operation required managers with strong management skills; and 3) staffing development created new problems, and human resourcerelated problems were continuously identified. Therefore, changes in medical environments clarified the effects of countermeasures for staffing issues as one of the problems facing nursing organizations. Furthermore, new problems and issues that must be addressed were identified. Addressing staffing issues is an effective measure for the current personnel, and the basic approach of the nursing departments was to provide high-quality care to patients. Therefore, staffing is one of the techniques that can be utilized by management to provide high quality care.