Since the employment levels for nur

Since the employment levels for nursing homes usually are related to numbers of patients, regression analysis is a useful method of forecasting future employment levels for nursing homes. An analysis of historical information relating to one nursing home produced these formulas showing employment levels:Nursing aides/orderlies =8+(0.40 x the number of patients)Nurses(LpNs and RNs)=3+( 0.15 x the number of patients'Kitchen employees=1+(0. 20 x the number of patients)These regression equations allow the nursing home director to forecast employment needs as the nursing home expands. At the present time the nursing home has 80 patients. Caring for these patients requires 40 nursing aides and orderlies, 15 nurses, and 17 kitchen workers. Within the next year the nursing home expects to add another 20 patients. To accommodate these additional patients, the nursing home will need to hire eight additional nursing aides and orderlies, three additional nurses, and four additional kitchen employees.Many hospitals use a sophisticated form of regression analysis to forecast their employment needs Rather than using forecasts based on the number of patients, however, hospitals use recasts that are based on the projected kinds of health care activities that will be performed Through an extensive analysis of historical information, a hospital identifies standard performance rates for how long it takes to perform various activities, such as feeding patients, delivering a child, performing an appendectomy, and doing laboratory tests. Projections are then made concerning how many operations, laboratory tests, and other activities will be conducted at the hospital during a period of time. When these projections are combined with the performance rates that have been established the hospital is able to identify how many employees will be needed in each area. Although the hospital may overestimate the number of appendectomies that will be done and underestimate how long each child birth might require, the projections and time standards allow the hospital to at least make an initial estimate of employment needs. This information also provides an index of the productivity of the hospital. For example, the hospital administrator would be interested to know why the time required to perform a given operation frequently takes longer than the performance standards indicate.