The Importance Of Nurse Staffing

Nurse staffing is a structural factor that is closely associated with patient outcomes and other various components in the hospital work environment (Zhu et al., 2012). While the US population ages with people who, with the intervention of modern day medicine, are better able to sustain life with chronic illnesses, higher nurse workloads are needed to fulfill the health care demand, thus increasing incidences of burnout, job dissatisfaction and adverse patient outcomes (Vahey, 2004). Numerous studies conducted on nurse-patient ratios consistently conclude that more positive outcomes occur when a lower number of patients are assigned to one nurse for care. A 2013 study by A. Chapman concluded that in acute hospital settings, nurse-to-patient ratios should be less than 1:7 (given the department) in

In this way, patients will receive better care as the nurses can provide more attention with less stress and fatigue. Hence, patients will have better medical outcomes. Even though these better outcomes occur in some non-fatal illness, they can also involve cases of mortality. According to Shekelle (2013), “Evidence suggests that some proportions of these deaths could probably be prevented with more nursing care… The investigators estimated that the difference between 4:1 and 8:1 patient-nurse ratio may be approximately a thousand deaths in a group this size.” According to Tevington (2011), “Support for mandatory nurse-patient ratios is drawn from the belief that regulated registered nurses (RN) staffing will increase positive patient outcome, decrease nursing shortages, and increase nurse recruitment and job satisfaction.” Another aspect of the 1:4 nurse-patient ratio is a shorter stay in the hospital for patients. Patients also ask their nurse how many other patients they are assigned to, and a lower ratio gives them greater