Study: Links between patient safety and staff workload
Nurse Leader Insider, February 18, 2016
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Insider!
A new study confirms what you already know: that RNs with a reasonable workload can take better care of their patients. The study, published last week in BMJ Open, examined how the number of beds per staff member affected the outcomes of patients in acute care hospitals over a two-year period.
It turns out that when it comes to caseloads, six is the magic number. They found that nurses with caseloads of at least 10 patients had a 20 percent higher risk of patient death than nurses with caseloads of six or fewer. The researchers also noted that replacing registered nurses with healthcare support staff did not improve the mortality rate of patients under their care.
This study follows a litany of new research about the many ways a reduced workload for nurses can help patients, from preventing heart attack deaths to recovering from surgery. There is even some evidence to suggest that bolstering nursing staff can help hospitals save money in the long run, thanks to the quality of care nurses can provide.
For more information about how better staffing can improve patient outcomes, check out the Strategies for Nurse Managers Reading Room. Here are a few samples:
- Planning Nurse Staffing with a Patient Acuity System
- Poll finds nurses believe staff shortages are affecting patient care
- Evidence-based staffing enhances patient-centered care
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Insider!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Complications from immobility by body system
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Skills of effective case managers
- Prevent dehydration with nursing interventions
- E-mailed
-
- Correctly bill ancillary bedside procedures in addition to the room rate
- Coding, billing, and documentation tips for teaching physicians, interns, residents, and students
- Coding tip: Watch for different codes for SI joint injections
- Q/A: Coding infusions to correct low potassium levels
- Q&A: Utilization Review Committee Membership
- Q&A: Bill blood administration the same way for inpatient and outpatient accounts
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Know the medical gas cylinder storage requirements
- Intravenous therapy guidelines
- ICD-10-CM coma, stroke codes require more specific documentation
- Searched