Study: Nurse understaffing associated with increased risk of healthcare-associated infections
Nurse Leader Insider, July 1, 2019
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Insider!
Since approximately 4% of patients develop one or more healthcare associated infections (HAI) during their hospital stays, researchers set out to determine the link between HAIs and nurse understaffing.
The unit-level nurse staffing study conducted by Columbia University School of Nursing examined data from more than 100,000 patients at a large urban hospital from 2007-2012. It found that 15% of patient-days had one shift understaffed with registered nurses and 6.3% of patient-days had the day and night shifts understaffed.
Patients who experienced a day with understaffed day and night shifts were 15% more likely to develop HAIs, such as urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and pneumonia, than patients with adequately staffed shifts. Additionally, units with understaffed nursing supporting staff (e.g., licensed practical nurses and nurse assistants) also increased the risk of HAIs for patients.
Source: Columbia School of Nursing
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Insider!
Related Products
-
Strategies for Nurse Managers
Strategies for Nurse Managers is a 12-page monthly how-to newsletter that was created exclusively to help you save time...
-
Nurse Leader Insider
Our informative free e-mail newsletter for nursing professionals delivers helpful tips and advice each week!
-
Nursing Orientation Program Builder:
This binder and CD-ROM walk you through each step of a well-run orientation program so you can incorporate field-tested...
-
HealthLeaders Media Nursing Leaders
HealthLeaders Media Nursing Leaders offers concise updates on nursing leadership headlines of the week from top news...
-
Quality Improvement for Nurse Managers:
This book and CD-ROM clearly outline a nurse leader's role in quality improvement and offer simple instructions to improve...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- CMS seeks comment on quality measures
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- What to include on the incident report
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- Code diagnoses and outpatient treatment for PTSD
- Complications from immobility by body system
- Understanding nursing roles in quality improvement
- E-mailed
-
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Q/A: Reporting L code and CPT code for splinting
- Q&A: Charging for drug administration during urgent care visit
- Prioritize sepsis assessments in your overcrowded emergency department
- Patient care orders/protocols: What do the regulations say?
- Know guidelines and subtle differences in code descriptions for laceration repairs
- Joint Commission clarifies ligature risk requirements
- Food and drink in patient care areas
- Coding meconium aspiration
- CMS final rule clarifies that medical staff can extend beyond physicians
- Searched
