Strengthening hospital nursing: innovations for the improvement of patient care.

Hospital services account for over 40% of the total U.S. expenditure on health care. A key to the provision of effective and efficient hospital services rests on an adequate number of qualified nursing staff. The demand for qualified nurses continues to outstrip the existing and anticipated supply. In addition, hospitals face a growing public accountability for quality patient care. To meet these challenges, hospitals must develop innovative strategies to strengthen hospital nursing and improve patient care. A major challenge to the industrial engineer/health systems engineer is how to best design the hospital system of the future. The purpose of this paper is to enumerate common problems experienced in hospitals and to describe the innovative solutions to these problems proposed by hospitals across the nation.