The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between clinical manager span of control and manager and unit work outcomes in up to 15 Ontario Academic Hospitals. We know that span of control is a multidimensional concept; hence the need for an assessment/decision guide that goes beyond the number of employees per manager has become essential.
The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) Span Tool addresses this multi-dimensionality and may be a reliable and helpful tool for estimating an appropriate span of control for nurse managers. In order to adequately test the TOH tool and test relationships among key manager span of control factors and manager work outcomes and unit outcomes, we need a representative sample of managers from CAHO organizations. The unit outcomes we are examining include: staff absenteeism or sick time, staff turnover, overtime hours, work injury rates, and patient satisfaction for the units of managers in the study.