How can we optimise nursing shift patterns to balance costs, patient outcomes and staff wellbeing?

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Nurses form the largest group of NHS staff, with most providing care in 24-hour settings. Theorganisation of this workforce, which includes the designing of shift patterns, has a profound impact onpatient care. Shifts can be organised in many ways (e.g., 8-hour vs. 12-hour shifts), depending on thedesired balance of outcomes like costs, patient safety, and staff wellbeing. Previous research has shownthe benefits and drawbacks of using various shift patterns, however, the problem of how 'best' toorganise nursing shifts is not yet solved.When designing shift pattern models, two questions are usually asked: "What factors should be includedin the model?" and "What is the best balance of these factors so that good outcomes are achieved?" Thedata used to answer these questions should ideally come from diverse sources. Also, because of thecomplex relationships among factors, careful analysis and model testing is required. This projectproposes to answer these questions and apply these considerations through four phases.First, a literature review will be completed to identify conventional shift-related factors and current gapsin research knowledge. Second, interviews with nursing staff and patients will be undertaken tounderstand real-world contexts and scheduling preferences. Third, analysis of a large dataset with NHSstaff/patient data will be performed to uncover important relationships between shift variables andrelevant outcomes. Finally, the information gained from these phases will be combined with advancedmodelling techniques, ultimately resulting in a shift pattern system that is evidence-based and applicableto practical settings.