Nursing intensity. Going beyond patient classification.

Two patient classification systems, Medicus and GRASP, were compared to the Patient Intensity for Nursing Index (PINI). Approximately 50% of the variability in both classification systems was not accounted for by PINI items. The patterns of correlation between PINI items and GRASP and Medicus scores indicated that these two classification systems do not measure nursing resource use in the same way. Nurse administrators should be aware that estimates of nursing care costs will vary depending on the patient classification system used to measure nursing intensity.