What is benchmarking in nursing?

Benchmarking in nursing is defined as the process by which the quest for best practice is identified and pursued over a period of time for reliable and better performance. Subjects that can be benchmarked in nursing industry include strategies, operations and processes.

Comparative benchmarking indicators in the nursing industry can involve critical care, medical or surgical, workload intensity, voluntary turnover, nurse/patient ratios, nurse staffing care and patient descriptors such as diagnosis prescription, age and gender.

In other sectors, benchmarking refers to a technique in which a company measures its performance against that of the best in the same or an outside industry.