Missed nursing care and higher nurse workloads increase the risk of patients dying following common hospital surgical procedures, according to a study published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies.
Researchers gathered data from the RN4CAST study (2009 to 2011). The study combined routinely collected data on 422,730 surgical patients from 300 general acute hospitals in nine countries. It also includes survey data from 26,516 registered nurses.
The study shows nurse staffing and missed nursing care were significantly associated with 30-day case-mix adjusted mortality. Increasing a nurse's workload by one patient was linked to a 7 percent uptick in odds of a patient dying within 30 days of admission. Additionally, a 10 percent increase in missed nursing care was associated with a 16 percent increase in the odds of a patient dying within a month of admission.
"The analyses support the hypothesis that missed nursing care mediates the relationship between registered nurse staffing and risk of patient mortality. Measuring missed care may provide an 'early warning' indicator of higher risk for poor patient outcomes," study authors concluded.
More articles on healthcare quality:
Why you might see #FightFlu on social media this month
CDC: 5 African nations on track to achieve epidemic control of HIV
The 2 most effective operating room practices to reduce SSIs
Increasing nurse's workload by 1 patient ups odds of patient death by 7%
Missed nursing care and higher nurse workloads increase the risk of patients dying following common hospital surgical procedures, according to a study published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies.
http://www.journalofnursingstudies.com/article/S0020-7489(17)30176-1/fulltext
Researchers gathered data from the RN4CAST study (2009 to 2011). The study combined routinely collected data on 422,730 surgical patients from 300 general acute hospitals in nine countries. It also includes survey data from 26,516 registered nurses.
The study shows nurse staffing and missed nursing care were significantly associated with 30-day case-mix adjusted mortality. Increasing a nurse's workload by one patient was linked to a 7 percent uptick in odds of a patient dying within 30 days of admission. Additionally, a 10 percent increase in missed nursing care was associated with a 16 percent increase in the odds of a patient dying within a month of admission.
"The analyses support the hypothesis that missed nursing care mediates the relationship between registered nurse staffing and risk of patient mortality. Measuring missed care may provide an 'early warning' indicator of higher risk for poor patient outcomes," study authors concluded.
More articles on healthcare quality: