Nurses make up the majority of hospital workers and are integral to providing quality care. Despite this, many hospitals don't meet safe nursing workforce practices, according to a recent report from The Leapfrog Group.
To meet Leapfrog's national nursing workforce standard, hospitals have to either comply with 21 different Leapfrog safe practices or, alternatively, achieve Magnet status recognition from the American Nursing Credentials Center.
Leapfrog's 21 safe practices address issues ranging from educational meetings on adequate nurse staffing to budgeting financial resources for balancing staff levels.
Highlighted below are three findings from the report.
1. The percentage of hospitals that achieved full compliance with all 21 of the nursing workforce safe practices grew 8 percent from 52 percent in 2013 to 60 percent in 2014.
2. Still, two in five reporting hospitals, or 40 percent, did not fully meet Leapfrog's standards.
3. Leapfrog-reporting hospitals achieving Magnet status increased from 15.5 percent in 2013 to 16 percent in 2014. Nationwide, about 7 percent of hospitals have achieved Magnet recognition.
"This report gives us an understanding of what hospitals are doing to make their nursing staff and leadership the best they can be, such as having an adequately resourced nurse staffing plan, embedding experienced nurses into senior management teams, and funding the maintenance of professional knowledge and skills," said Jennifer Schneider, MD, CMO of San Francisco-based healthcare information company Castlight Health.
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