PHILADELPHIA (March 3, 2021) - According to a new study published in
Medical Care, improving hospital nurse staffing as proposed in pending legislation in New York state would likely save lives. The cost of improving nurse staffing would be offset by savings achieved by reducing hospital readmissions and length of hospital stays.
Researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, conducted independent research in early 2020 on whether pending nurse staffing legislation in New York state is in the public s interest. The study of 116 hospitals and 418,000 Medicare patients documented large differences in patient-to-nurse ratios by hospital from an average of 4.3 patients for each nurse to as many as 10.5 patients per nurse. The wide variation in patient-to-nurse ratios across hospitals in New York is contributing to avoidable deaths and unnecessary costs.
Nursing staff improvements help prevent sepsis-related deaths, study finds
Experts say that patients’ health outcomes improve when nurses aren’t as short-staffed 12/18/2020
Photo (c) Tempura - Getty ImagesA new study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing has explored how health outcomes are affected when hospital units are overcommitting their nurses to too many patients.
According to their findings, improving staffing in hospitals so that nurses can give their full attention to fewer patients can ultimately lead to fewer sepsis-related deaths.
“This independent scientific study shows that improvement of hospital nurse staffing holds the best promise for significantly reducing deaths from sepsis which often strikes when it is least expected,” said researcher Linda H. Aiken, PhD. “Moreover, improving nurse staffing results in cost savings in sepsis care due to shorter hospital stays that can be reinvested
Study: Better hospital nurse staffing reduces sepsis deaths
Researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, conducting independent research on whether pending nurse staffing legislation in New York state is in the public s interest, found that the wide variation in patient-to-nurse ratios across hospitals in New York is contributing to avoidable deaths for patients with sepsis, a common, high mortality condition.
New York state is a national leader in sepsis care through legislation known as Rory s Regulations named after a child that unexpectedly died in a New York hospital from sepsis. The new study finds avoided sepsis deaths associated with better hospital nurse staffing are much greater than adherence to mandated sepsis care bundles.
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Researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, conducting independent research on whether pending nurse staffing legislation in New York state is in the public s interest, found that the wide variation in patient-to-nurse ratios across hospitals in New York is contributing to avoidable deaths for patients with sepsis, a common, high mortality condition.
New York state is a national leader in sepsis care through legislation known as Rory s Regulations named after a child that unexpectedly died in a New York hospital from sepsis. The new study finds avoided sepsis deaths associated with better hospital nurse staffing are much greater than adherence to mandated sepsis care bundles.