While evidence supports an association between nurse-patient ratios and inpatient mortality, a lack of stronger evidence precludes a definitive conclusion, according to a study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The author reviewed evidence on nurse staffing ratios and in-hospital mortality through September 2012. No study reported any serious harm related to increasing nurse staffing. The strongest evidence indicating a link between more nursing staff and less inpatient mortality was a longitudinal study in a single hospital that found mortality decreased by 2-7 percent.
However, no study evaluated an intervention to increase nurse staffing ratios, which limits a stronger conclusion on increasing nurse staffing ratios as a patient safety strategy, according to the author.
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The author reviewed evidence on nurse staffing ratios and in-hospital mortality through September 2012. No study reported any serious harm related to increasing nurse staffing. The strongest evidence indicating a link between more nursing staff and less inpatient mortality was a longitudinal study in a single hospital that found mortality decreased by 2-7 percent.
However, no study evaluated an intervention to increase nurse staffing ratios, which limits a stronger conclusion on increasing nurse staffing ratios as a patient safety strategy, according to the author.
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