APPENDIX 2
LACK OF NATIONAL INDICATORS FOR STAFFING
LEVELS
There have been a number of studies undertaken
which have sought to provide criteria for assessing staffing level:
1. Birthrate Jean Ball 1992.
This work focused on devising a score system
for use in intra-partum care, based upon clinical indicators of
the needs of women and their infants. Each indicator has a weighted
score reflecting the different processes of labour and delivery.
The score obtained is used to assign the client
and her baby to one of five categories of need, ranging from normal
delivery to emergency caesarean section via increasing levels
of intervention.
Midwife time is then allocated according to
the need shown by the category and the average length of time
spent in the delivery suite.
This method enables a calculation to be made
as to the staff required to meet the workload and quality of care
targets. Thus the formula is tailored to beat the patterns of
work in each individual maternity unit.
2. Birthrate Plus Jean Ball,
Marie Washbrook 1996.
This work refines the methodology used in Birthrate
to apply it to different aspects of maternity care and patterns
of midwifery organisations, such as antenatal and postnatal care,
community services, caseload and team midwifery.
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