Direct Care FTEs

The  Direct Care FTEs calculator computes the hours worked within budget for nurses based on the daily average number of nursing hours worked and the number (rate) of patients visited per unit of time (per day, week, month or year).

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose the preferred units and enter the following:

• (avgN)  This is the average nursing hours per 24 hour period.
• (p) This is the number or rate of patients visited per unit of time.

Direct Care FTEs:  The calculator returns the FTEs per day.  However this can be automatically converted to compatible units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

Direct Care FTEs represents the hours that are worked within the budget for the nurses. To compute this equation you will have to take the average number of hours a nurse works within a 24 hour period multiplied by the number of patients or visits per day or year. Calculating the Direct Care FTEs helps the nurse manager build the cost center budget. It is better to build  the budget from scratch because it provides objective data that can be compared to the actual budget. 

INPUTS:  The following describes the inputs to this equation

avgN: represents the number of hours nurses have to work within a 24 hour period
p: represents the number of people or visits per day or year

NOTES

What does Direct Care mean?

Direct Care means  the actual nursing interventions delivered in the home visit. Direct care activities may include assessing the client, performing procedures, and teaching. For example, these activities could be changing dressings or teaching client and family about new diet change. 

What does FTE mean?

FTE stands for Full Time Equivalent. A position is a single job for 1 person, regardless of hours worked by the individual in that position. That means 1 employee working for 8 hours per day, 5 days per week for 52 weeks per year. 

REFERENCE

Dunham-Taylor, Janne, and Joseph Z. Pinczuk. Health Care Financial Management for Nurse Managers: Merging the Heart with the Dollar. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2006. Print.

Zimmermann, Polly Gerber. Nursing Management Secrets. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, 2002. Print.

Humphrey, Carolyn J., Paula Milone-Nuzzo, and Carolyn J. Humphrey. Orientation to Home Care Nursing. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen, 1996. Print.

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