The oldest method of measuring nursing productivity is hours spent upon a patient per day (Huber 2000: 703). However, in the modern era, a variety of productivity measures have been employed to assess employee productivity and efficacy. Patient improvement or outcomes measurement is sometimes deployed, although this is obviously an imperfect measure, given that many factors can impact patient success rate. Measuring improvement against overall (national) general benchmarks of patient improvement for similar ailments is occasionally used. But this does not take into consideration other environmental factors within the hospital besides nursing care, and demographic factors that could impact patient improvement (Huber 2000: 704). Other measures might include patient return rates (given that rapid return visits can indicate improper care during the first visit) and ER wait time but even these are far from 'foolproof.'

One valuable indicator has been to assess patient outcomes in relation to numbers of nurses on staff. Given that there often is a dramatic improvement in patient outcomes when nurses per patient are increased, this provides some clue as to how to demonstrably improve patient health, if increasing staff members is feasible (Huber 2000: 702-703).

Describe the two models for productivity: cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit models.

Cost effectiveness models (CEA)...

The health benefit of a particular treatment or procedure is calculated in terms of health units, and the cost outcome is measured in dollars (Huber 2000: 346). The purpose of CEA modeling is to provide an objective, data-driven and empirical method for assessing organizational choices. Cost-effectiveness models encourage caregivers to maximize patient health while minimizing the costs of treatment. The focus is on finding the optimal balance between improving patient care and containing costs.
In contrast, cost-benefit models measure the potential costs of providing a treatment, versus the benefits provided by taking that particular strategy. Cost-benefit analysis is often used when weighing alternatives between two available options. The costs of different plans are assessed, and compared, and then the benefits of each potential plan are weighed. Ideally, one plan should have substantially fewer costs and substantially more benefits. Cost-benefit analysis is most suitable when prioritizing and making choices between scarce resources. However, as Huber (2000) notes, quite often organizational politics and other factors can influence choices regarding care, regardless of what the data using either of these methods may yield.

Reference

Huber, Diane L. (2000). Leadership and nursing care management. Saunders.