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Hospital and nursing organizations have mixed support for a federal bill that would set specific minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for every hospital unit. Credit: Getty Images.
Having sufficient numbers of nursing staff leads to better patient care and safety. This, in turn, lessens the financial burdens placed on the healthcare system, a study has found
The Lancet medical journal suggests that employing more nurses can result in cost savings double the cost of employing the additional nurses. The study was conducted in Australia but may well have important implications for nursing in South Africa.
The study, conducted across 55 hospitals in Queensland, suggests that a recent state policy to introduce a minimum ratio of one nurse to four patients for day shifts has successfully improved patient care, with a 7% drop in the chance of death and readmission, and 3% reduction in length of stay for every one less patient a nurse has on their workload.
It is these reductions in readmissions and length of hospital stays that resulted in the cost savings.