The Impact Of Nurse-To-Patient Ratios On Patient Outcomes

Abstract

Nurses play a crucial role in delivering excellent healthcare in acute hospitals. Nevertheless, determining the ideal dosage of nurses required to care for patients remains uncertain. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a revised evaluation of the available data on the impact of nurse staffing levels on patient outcomes. The objective is to conduct a comprehensive study and meta-analysis to investigate the correlation between the levels of nurse staffing and patient outcomes that are influenced by nursing care in specialized acute care units. Increased staffing levels were linked to decreased death rates, medication mistakes, ulcers, usage of restraints, infections, pneumonia, increased use of aspirin, and a larger proportion of patients having a percutaneous coronary procedure within 90 minutes. A meta-analysis of six trials, covering 175,755 patients admitted to the emergency room and/or cardiac/cardiothoracic units, found that increasing the number of nurses on duty reduced the risk of inhospital death by 14% (0.86, 95% confidence range 0.79–0.94). Nevertheless, the meta-analysis also revealed a significant level of heterogeneity, with an I2 value of 86%. The ratio of nurses to patients has a significant impact on many patient outcomes, particularly in terms of in-hospital mortality. Further study is required to investigate the correlation between nurse-to-patient ratios and nurse-sensitive patient outcomes in order to address the lack of information and limitations in existing studies on this topic. This would provide further substantiation for the suggestions on the most advantageous nurse-to-patient ratios in acute specialized units.