Nurses typically make up the majority of hospital employees and are in charge of the majority of patient care. Neves et al. (2020) state that health services researchers have conducted studies on the associations between the staffing of nurses and health outcomes for many years. These studies often focused on the impact of nurse staffing and their work environment on patient safety, quality of healthcare, and cost-effective care, among other health outcomes. The studies concluded that even in brief periods, the lack of adequate nurse staffing often results in various kinds of inconveniences, such as patient dissatisfaction, patients’ longer lengths of stay in healthcare facilities, higher readmission cases, and nurse burnouts, among others (Neves et al., 2020). Therefore, it is plausible to presume that adverse health outcomes are likely to occur when inadequate staffing of nurses in healthcare facilities occurs.
In today’s world of aggressive cost-cutting, it is vital to establish minimum staffing levels for nurses to ensure positive outcomes. For instance, California was the first state to pass legislation establishing a maximum patient-to-nurse staffing ratio to improve patient care (Neves et al., 2020). Since its implementation, research specific to the state has shown considerable improvements in health outcomes. These improvements include lower inpatient deaths within four weeks of admission, reduced surgical mortality rates, and reduced likelihood of patients’ death from professional negligence. According to Neves et al. (2020), the California state’s case study indicated a 15% reduction in the risk of in-hospital mortality for every increase of one nurse. Similarly, in cases of long-term care facilities, increases in nursing staffing resulted in fewer acute care hospitalizations, infections, and less deterioration of patient’s ability to perform daily activities.
References
Neves, T. M., Parreira, P. M., Graveto, J. M., Maria João Baptista Dos Santos De Freitas, & Rodrigues, V. J. (2020). Nurse managers perceptions of nurse staffing and nursing care quality: A cross‐sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(3), 625-633.