The cost-quality balance: an analysis of quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and cost.

Present day fiscal pressures dictate the need for balancing nursing costs and quality concerns. This article presents logical and organized methodologies for interrelating quality compliance, patient volume, and nursing resource consumption and determining the costs associated with the delivery of quality nursing care. These methodologies provide the chief nursing officer a means for evaluating the impact of fiscal constraints on quality compliance and for judging any effectiveness/efficiency trade-offs.