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    The relationship between nurse staffing and inpatient complications

    234407_234407.pdf (406.1Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Schreuders, L.
    Bremner, A.
    Geelhoed, E.
    Finn, Judith
    Date
    2015
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Schreuders, L. and Bremner, A. and Geelhoed, E. and Finn, J. 2015. The relationship between nurse staffing and inpatient complications. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 71 (4): pp. 800-812.
    Source Title
    JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING
    DOI
    10.1111/jan.12572
    ISSN
    0309-2402
    School
    School of Nursing and Midwifery
    Remarks

    This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Schreuders, L. and Bremner, A. and Geelhoed, E. and Finn, J. 2015. The relationship between nurse staffing and inpatient complications. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 71 (4): pp. 800-812., which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12572This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving at http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11443
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Aim: To compare characteristics of hospitalizations with and without complications and examine the impact of nurse staffing on inpatient complications across different unit types. Background: Studies investigating the relationship between nurse staffing and inpatient complications have not shown consistent results. Methodological limitations have been cited as the basis for this lack of uniformity. Our study was designed to address some of these limitations. Design: Retrospective longitudinal hospitalization-level study. Method: Adult hospitalizations to high intensity, general medical and general surgical units at three metropolitan tertiary hospitals were included. Data were sourced from Western Australian Department of Health administrative data collections from 2004–2008. We estimated the impact of nurse staffing on inpatient complications adjusted for patient and hospital characteristics and accounted for patients with multiple hospitalizations. Results: The study included 256,984 hospitalizations across 58 inpatient units. Hospitalizations with complications had significantly different demographic characteristics compared with those without. The direction of the association between nurse staffing and inpatient complications was not consistent for different inpatient complications, nurse skill mix groups or for hospitalizations with different unit movement patterns. Conclusion: Our study design addressed limitations noted in the field, but our results did not support the widely held assumption that improved nurse staffing levels are associated with decreased patient complication rates. Despite a strong international focus on improving nurse staffing to reduce inpatient complications, our results suggest that adding more nurses is not a panacea for reducing inpatient complications to zero.

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