Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care in Hospitals in the United States

Abstract

The size and mix of nurse staffing in U.S. hospitals has a direct impact on the outcome of patient health according to a study based on discharge data for more than 6 million patients and financial reports and hospital staffing surveys from 799 hospitals in 11 states. The data were analyzed to determine staffing levels of RNs, licensed practicing/vocational nurses, and aides and to measure the frequency of a wide range of complications that patients developed during their hospital stays. Of the hospital inpatient nursing personnel studied, the study found that registered nurse staffing makes the biggest impact on adverse patient outcomes. The researchers found that lower levels of nurse staffing were associated with higher rates of urinary tract infections, pneumonia, shock and cardiac arrest, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, “failure to rescue,” and length of hospital stay in both medical and major surgery patients treated in hospitals.