nursing dashboard Nursing Services Dashboard Docket: UAH-P-10002, C-10001, C-10002 Nurse leaders are required to develop and execute staffing plans for hospital units in a way that conserves financial resources while providing quality care and preventing adverse events. Over ten years of research shows that higher numbers of nurses with a bachelor's degree, more experienced nurses, and fewer patients for each nurse are important for patient safety, but there has been no translation of research into a useable tool to assist nurse leaders. Researchers at UAH have developed a nursing dashboard application software to facilitate patient safety and organizational goals. It is an interactive tool that allows nurse leaders to see the implications for patient and organizational outcomes of actual or possible nurse staffing levels. The dashboard can operate in two modes. In the status mode, the software displays current patient, unit, and nurse staffing information. Updates to the current status from external files are automatically detected and processed by the software. In scenario mode, a nurse leader can determine the outcome of potential changes through a predictive "what-if" analysis. This innovative feature enables the user to make staffing decisions in concert with desirable quality and financial outcomes. Custom scenarios can be saved to a file and loaded later for future analysis and review. This software innovation has several advantages over current technology. The use of regression equations developed from analysis of over fifty U. S. hospitals provides a predictive function not found in other dashboards, scorecards, or report cards. This software is also customizable to any hospital or unit. By using scenarios, nurse leaders can make better daily staffing decisions and develop optimal annual personnel budgets that are connected to expected patient and organizational outcomes. Applications Hospital nurse staffing Advantages Predictive scenarios aid nurse staffing decision making Optimal use of human resources saves money Better patient outcomes give hospitals competitive edge Can reduce incidences of hospital-acquired conditions Status State of Development: Prototype Licensing Status: Available for licensing Patent Status: Patent pending