As the nurse manager, you will now need to determine the staff mix based on budgeted full-time equivalents (FTEs). Consider the formula below:

Actual Price per FTE x Actual Total Number of FTEs = Budgeted Cost

Using the figure in the table below for nursing labor, calculate the Actual Cost and how you will divide the nursing labor expense based on skill mix. Consider safe staffing requirements, quality of care and operational needs to meet the demands of the new unit. Provide a detailed rationale of why and how you arrived at your decision.

	Actual	Budget	Variance
Volume/Census	360	420	-60 U income
Supplies	$8,550	$7,800	-750 U expenditure
Nursing Labor	$58,450	$52,575	-5,875 U expenditure