Hospital mortality drops with lower patient-to-nurse ratio

[HuckleB]

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016/02/10/Hospital-mortality-drops-with-lower-patient-to-nurse-ratio/6281455110040/

"Hospitals with more registered nurses and doctors per bed can reduce patient death by as much as 20 percent, researchers in England found in a study of clinics there.

Having more nurses and doctors overall is not enough, as researchers at the University of Southampton found having more unregistered nurses increased the death rate at hospitals.

The researchers focused on cost-cutting measures -- either reducing overall staff, or hiring unregistered healthcare support workers to reduce workload -- as at fault for some part of current mortality rates.

"When determining the safety of nurse staffing on hospital wards, the level of registered nurse staffing is crucial -- hospitals with higher levels of healthcare support workers have higher mortality rates," said Jane Ball, a research fellow at the Karolinska Institutet, in a press release. "Patients should not be asked to pay the price of receiving care from a less skilled and less educated member of staff, just to make up for the failure of the system to ensure enough registered nurses. Staffing decisions need to be made on the basis of patient safety, not on the basis of finance. Current policies geared towards substituting [these] workers for registered nurses should be reviewed."

..."


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Yup.

[Mbrow]

1. K&R

yup indeed, seems like a no brainer

[HuckleB]

4. Thanks.

[mucifer]

2. Yup as a nurse I have to also add that it's harder for us

older nurses to do the high patient ratio. I'm a hospice nurse. I like the one on one.

[HuckleB]

7. Indeed. And no nurse at any age should be out of breath.

That's not going to lead to good care.

[Heddi]

3. Says every nurse ever

this is why I moved from beside nursing to Case Management/Administrative nursing. I was tired of being in a level 1 trauma center ER with 4 intubated, critically ill patients and 6 in the hallway that were critically ill, no lunch, no break, no pee-pee time and neverending demands that I work harder, faster, and better, all without making a single mistake, med error, or charting discrepancy.

[Mojorabbit]

8. It was like that in the 70's and 80's also

When I got out of school it was crazy. It improved a bit in part of the 80's and then went downhill again.

[HuckleB]

11. It is amazing what hospital systems do to nurses. Ugh.

[spanone]

5. duh

[Butterbean]

10. Said every nurse, ever. *fist bump* n/t

[spanone]

12. my mom was an RN...dad sold surgical supplies

i've worked in hospitals....it's all profit all the time

[avaistheone1]

6. What a surprise.

[KamaAina]

9. Full story in this month's issue of DUH! Magazine, on newsstands now.

[HuckleB]

13. Sometimes the "Duh" doesn't turn out to be the "Duh."

Research is a good thing.