Abstract
M.Cur (Professional Nursing)
This study of patient acuity level plans (PALP) to determine nursing levels for in-patients units was carried out by means of an exploratory, descriptive instrumental study within the
context of a nursing situation with the literature study serving as background, a patient acuity level plan (PALP) was designed, according to accepted criteria, to find data on which to base post determination for nursing staff. This descriptive, instrumental study was done at a private research hospital in Johannesburg where all the patients and
nursing staff (first- as welI as second-in-command) were involved. The patient acuity level plan (PALP) -instrument was designed by the researcher, and under supervision of the
researcher it was implemented in seven nursing units in the hospital. (The instrument proved to be highly reliable i. e. 0,999). The difference between nursing post determination as recommended and determined by PALP, and nursing post determination
as determined by means of a pragmatic subjective approach by the nursing service manager of the, hospital proved to be statistically insignificant. The PALP instrument showed, however, that more nursing staff were needed in four of the seven units. The quality of the nursing was not studied nor was a productivity study carried out. The grand total difference between the recommended and actual nursing hours needed for all the nursing units shows a statistically significant difference (p = 0,0001) on a 1% significance level. This instrument could also positively contribute towards a more cost-effective post determination in nursing.