The nurse leader as logistician: optimizing human capital.
Many traditional approaches to planning and deploying human capital have not been effective. Staffing offices are chaotic, budgets are overrun, staffing is frequently misaligned, a growing number of state legislatures are mandating nurse staffing levels, and dissatisfaction with work schedules abounds. The authors explores methodologies used in the science of logistics management, namely, systems theory and mathematical optimization modeling, which, when applied to human capital planning and deployment, can significantly improve business results.