Nursing staff in the internal medicine and surgical units of teaching hospitals: composition and cost.

Objective Evaluate the mean quantitative and qualitative nursing staff working in the internal medicine and surgical units of three public general teaching hospitals in the city of São Paulo, compared to projected mean staff according to the parameters of Cofen Resolution No. 293/04, as well as measure the mean cost of current and projected nursing staff. Method Quantitative, descriptive, exploratory study using prospective data collection. Results In most of the units studied, the number of nursing professionals was adequate. In two of the institutions, the percentage of nurses was lower than that recommended by Cofen. Qualitative and quantitative adjustment of the staff would represent a monthly cost increase of R$141,326 for Hospital A, R$138,989 for Hospital B, and a reduction of R$99,028 for Hospital C. Conclusion The main contribution of this study was the proposed method for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of nursing staff, in addition to determining the average cost for adjustments.