Nurse Corps Manpower Management Model By LCDR Daniel

To increase Navy Nurse Corps manpower management efficiency, we developed a Markov model of the personnel flow of junior officers (O1-O4). The Nurse Corps manages personnel primarily through the recruitment process, drawing on multiple accession sources. Accession sources were shown to have a statistically significant effect on promotion and retention rates. However, these effects were not found to be practically significant in the Markov model. Allowing greater flexibility in recruiting practices, fewer recruits would generate a 25% reduction in rank imbalances, but result in understaffing. Recruiting different ranks at entry would generate a 65% reduction in rank imbalances without understaffing issues. Policies adjusting promotion and retention rates are more powerful in controlling personnel flows and are the only means for addressing the fundamental sources of rank imbalances in the Navy Nurse Corps arising from current manpower guidelines.