Operating Budget For A Hospital Unit Assignment

Prepare an 8–10-page operating budget for a hospital unit.

Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

Sound financial management is essential to the fiscal well-being of all health care organizations, and the nurse leader plays an important part.

Consequently, the preparation and effective management of operating budgets is a critical skill for nurse leaders. The budget guides leaders in optimizing the use of resources, and because nurses are closest to patients, they understand very well what it takes to operate on a daily basis and provide safe, high-quality care.

This assessment provides an opportunity for you to develop an operating budget for a health care unit. Keep in mind, staff is a large part of this budget and is often hard to control.

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint.

You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community.

Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

What major sections would you include in an operating budget?

What are your primary sources of budget information?

Would you include nice-to-have items in your budget? Why or why not?

What factors, such as organizational objectives, policies, and competition for funding, might affect the development and management of an operating budget?

Preparation You are the nurse manager of a 35-bed hospital unit with 20 full-time equivalents (FTE) staff. You have been given the task of getting the budget under control.

Several people have recently left the unit, and you have been working to fill those open positions. Your staff work scheduled overtime and many sign up to work extra shifts.

Your unit serves an older population, as well, and has incurred ​‌‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‍​expenses associated with this group of patients.

Note: Remember that you can submit all of, or a portion of, your draft to Smarthinking for feedback, before you submit the final version for this assessment.

However, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback, if you plan on using this free service.

Requirements Note:

The following requirements correspond to the grading criteria in the assessment scoring guide. Be sure that your budget addresses each point, at a minimum.

You may also want to read the Guiding Questions:

Preparing and Managing an Operating Budget [DOCX], linked in the Resources under the Suggested Resources heading, to better understand how each criterion will be assessed.

Prepare and submit an operating budget for your hospital unit.

Prepare the operating budget.

Note: Assemble your budget figures in a table, using a format of your choice.

You may use either Microsoft Word or Excel to create your budget table.

Explain how the budget was designed and created.

Develop a strategic plan.

Develop an approach to ongoing budget management.

Present budget data and information clearly and accurately.

Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your budget data and information, correctly formatting citations and references using the current APA style.

Additional Requirements

If you use Microsoft Excel to create your budget table, submit the Excel file along with your budget narrative.

You may also add the Excel file to your Word document as an embedded object.

Format your budget narrative using APA style.

Use the APA Style Paper Template [DOCX], linked in the Resources under the Required Resources heading. An APA tutorial is also provided in the resources to help you in writing and formatting your document.

Be sure to include: An APA-formatted title page and reference page.

An abstract is not required.

A minimum of five properly formatted citations and references.

Your budget should be 8–10 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page.