Quantitative Literature Review On Patient Mortality

Stanton, M. R. (2004, March). Hospital Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care. Research in Action. Rockville, MD, USA: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Primarily, it is crucial for health care organizations to focus on ensuring safe and quality patient care, as well as improved job satisfaction by enforcing an optimal and adequate nurse-to-patient ratio and creating innovative and long-term strategies through a collaborative effort. In order to ensure the safety of patients and nurses, state-mandated safe-staffing ratios are necessary. Adequate nurse staffing is key to patient care and nurse retention, while inadequate staffing puts patients at risk and drives nurses from their profession. As baby boomers age and the demand for health care services grows, staffing problems will only intensify. Consequently, safe-staffing ratios have become such an ever-pressing concern. In 2004, California became the first state to implement minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, designed to improve patient care and nurse retention. Subsequent studies show that California’s program measurably improved patient care and nurse retention.

Eastabrooks, C. A., Midodzo, W. K., Cummings, G. C., Ricker, K. L., & Giovanetti, P. (2005, March/April). The impact of hospital nursing characteristics on 30-day mortality. Nursing Research, 54(2), 72-84. http://dx.doi

Inadequate professional nurse staffing levels integrate many social, ethical, economic, and political considerations which can directly impact patient quality outcomes. Requiring hospitals to utilize staffing committees to assign safe professional nurse staffing standards to each unit, reduces the risk for adverse patient measures. High-quality empirical research found a correlation between the professional nursing staff and the quality of patient outcomes (Mason, Leavitt, & Chaffee, 2012). By implementing H.B. 476, safer nursing care can be provided and excellence in patient outcomes can be achieved.

In an article published in Health Services Research in August 2008 that examined the effect of nursing practice environments on outcomes of hospitalized cancer patients undergoing surgery, Dr. Christopher Friese and colleagues found that nursing education level was significantly associated with patient outcomes. Nurses prepared at the baccalaureate-level were linked with lower mortality and failure-to-rescue rates. The authors conclude that “moving to a nurse workforce in which a higher proportion of staff nurses have at least a baccalaureate-level education would result in substantially fewer adverse outcomes for patients.”

with a 4% decrease in the risk of patient death”. Study concluded that staffing nurses from

One can wonder if there is any correlation between patient-nurse ratio and it’s effect on patient safety. In the research conducted by Jack Needleman and his associates (2002), they examined the relationship between amount of care provided by the nurse and compared it to patient outcome. The result showed that the increase amount of time a nurse is able to spend with the patient better the quality of care is. The data for this research was collected from seven hundred and ninety-nine hospitals across eleven states. This covered both medical and surgical patients that were discharged and the data was evaluated the relationship between the time provide to the patients by the nurses and patients’ outcome. As research showed,

The broad research problem leading to this study is the belief that nursing shortage in facilities leads to patient safety issues. The review of available literature on this topic shows strong evidence that lower nurse staffing levels in hospitals are associated with worse patient outcomes. Some of these outcomes include very high patient to nurse ratio, fatigue for nurses leading to costly medical mistakes, social environment, nursing staff attrition from the most affected facilities. The study specifically attempts to find a way to understand how nurse

Inconsistent nurse-patient ratios are a concern in hospitals across the nation because they limit nurse’s ability to provide safe patient care. Healthcare professionals such as nurses and physicians agree that current nurse staffing systems are inadequate and unreliable and not only affect patient health outcomes, but also create job dissatisfaction among medical staff (Avalere Health, 2015). A 2002 study led by RN and PhD Linda Aiken suggests that "forty percent of hospitals nurses have burnout levels that exceed the norms for healthcare workers" (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Sochalski & Silber, 2002). These data represents the constant struggle of nurses when trying to provide high quality care in a hospital setting.

The sample was of 26,276 nurses in 4 states with clearly defined reliable methods (Kelly, McHugh & Aiken, 2011). The data was analyzing with statistical methods to determine the data differences using an x2 method (Kelly, McHugh & Aiken, 2011). California results had to be excluded due to an anomaly with the states staffing. The data found was and also in support of magnet and nurse retention, safety and burnout influence the safety of patients (Kelly, McHugh & Aiken, 2011). Implications for practice again illustrate that a working environment and nurse retention have an effect on the safety of the staff and the patients (Kelly, McHugh & Aiken,

In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen a significant decline in the quality of patient care it provides. This has been the result of reduced staffing levels, overworked nurses, and an extremely high nurse to patient ratio. The importance of nurse staffing in hospital settings is an issue of great controversy. Too much staff results in costs that are too great for the facility to bear, but too little staffing results in patient care that is greatly hindered. Moreover, the shaky economy has led to widespread budget cuts; this, combined with the financial pressures associated with Medicare and private insurance companies have forced facilities to make due with fewer

Nursing is the powerhouse in the delivery of safe, quality patient-centered care in the healthcare industry. To ensure continued safety of the patient and nursing staff, the issue of inadequate staffing must be addressed. Consequently, patient’s mortality rate has been linked to the level of nursing staff utilized in ensuring an utmost outcome (Aiken, 2011). This paper will outline the issue associated with inadequate nurse to patient staffing ratios in the hospital setting; essential factors such as economic, social, ethical and political and legal affecting the issue will be established; current legislature and stakeholders will be ascertained and policy option, evaluation of bill and the results of analysis will be reviewed.

Mandating safe staffing levels for registered nurses in acute care settings has been an important topic of discussion for many years. As the demand for registered nurses continues to rise, so does the clinical demands on the nurses currently working. If there are no specific policies in place that mandate safe and appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios for all acute care facilities, registered nurses (RNs) may be required to take on even more patients than the already high numbers currently given to many of them. Inadequate RN staffing has the potential to cause increases in adverse patient events (American Nurses Association (ANA), The registered nurse safe staffing act, 2015) as well as an increase in nurse injury (Musick, Trotto, & Morrison,

The revolutionary transformation of the healthcare delivery system, sparked by The Affordable Care Act (2010) is changing the way nurses provide care, patients receive care, and hospitals profit from care (ANA, 2015). The goals of The Affordable Care Act (2010) focus on expanding access to high quality, and cost effective healthcare (ANA, 2015). The emphasis on value-based healthcare, uses incentives and penalties based on the healthcare organization’s ability to meet quality outcomes and cost-cutting measures. The emphasis on value-based healthcare makes it essential for appropriate staffing levels to optimize quality of care and patient outcomes (ANA, 2015). Implementing a safe staffing matrix, when compared to other life-saving interventions is extremely cost effective. Healthcare organization administrators are challenging nurses to take care of 10-12 patients at one time. Evidence demonstrates the number of patients assigned to a nurse at one time directly impacts the quality of nursing care provided (ANA, 2015). Research reveals, establishing a a safe nurse to patient ratio, saves lives improves outcomes, and reduces preventable adverse events (NYSNA, 2016).

Nurse staffing and how it relates to the quality of patient care has been an important issue in the field of nursing for quite some time. This topic has been particularly popular recently due to the fact that there is an increasing age among those who make up the Baby Boomer era in the United States. There will be a greater need for nurse staffing to increase to help accommodate the higher demand of care. Although nursing is “the top occupation in terms of job growth,” there are still nursing shortages among various hospitals across America today. The shortage in nurses heavily weighs on the overall quality of care that each individual patient receives during their hospital stay (Rosseter, 2014).