Workload and FTE's

[butlermom]

Does anyone have a "formula" or "metric" to determine how many FTE's are needed for "X" amount of workload?  I guess the first question should be, "How do you measure workload in your blood bank?"  I know we can use transfusions as one indicator, but that doesn't begin to cover all the other activities we do such as preparing syringe aliquots, panels, QC, etc., etc.  Our facility is planning to expand significantly in the near future and in order to justify additional staffing, administration wants to see some sort of measurement rather than us just saying we need more staff.  Is there something measurable that says when we reach this number we need another tech? There are days when we can barely keep our heads above water and the projection is that our facility is going to double in size.

 

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions!

 

[goodchild]

Do you get reports of the RVUs your department is generating vs the FTEs during those time periods?

 

Could you extrapolate that information with projected increases in workload to predicted FTE requirements?

[butlermom]

Goodchild, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term "RVUs."  Could you please explain?

[goodchild]

"Relative Value Units."

Our state's healthcare webpage lists all of the CPT/HCPCS codes for blood bank procedures and their RVUs.

The RVUs for all blood banking procedures are configured into the LIS.

Someone within our hospital is able to run a report that pulls RVUs for certain department/sets of codes for a time period and we use this for looking into additional FTEs.

 

Check with the administrative director over your department.

[Likewine99]

I've seen this done by taking the total number of billable tests (ABO, Rh, ABSC, XM, units of proucts transfused) divided by the # of tech hours billed to the department.  We did not count things that are considered "regulatory" such as donor retypes or the 2nd blood type on file, or QC and daily temps, it was strictly billable lab tests out the door every 24 hours.  

 

This gives a productivity number that can be benchmarked as to how "productive" your blood bank is.  It is tied to any test/procedure that has a CPT code or P code used when you charge your blood products.

 

Don't try to do this alone, you need help from your lab director, finance people, etc. People higher up the food chain from you do this stuff on a regular basis, pull them in and pick their brains.