Nurse Staffing

Abstract Nurse staffing has always been an issue in the hospital setting. Different units with different patient acuities are staffed accordingly usually based on the patient census. While nurses who are in direct contact care with patients feel that a decreased patient load will lead to greater benefit for the patient, others who are usually in managerial positions are not persuaded that such a correlation exists. As of this time, no such research has been done with an intentional change in staffing ratios that has shown actual proof of such connection with nurse staffing and patient outcome.
In the hospital setting, no matter what unit a Registered Nurse (RN) works on, there always exists a nurse to patient ratio. The actual number of
It was found that nurse burnout was directly related to the nurse staffing ratios. For each patient added to the nurse’s load, there was an increase of 1.02 times in the odds of the nurses to report higher emotional exhaustion (Aiken et al., 2011). This was directly related to the nurses reporting a lower perception of patient quality of care. Nurses with favorable work environments were 30% less likely to report a lower patient quality of care score than those with less than ideal environments. More favorable nurse staffing and work environments led to more favorable nursing outcomes such as reduced burnout and lower turnover rates, which then lead to a better quality of care (Aiken et al.,
The use of LPNs or LVNs to increase staffing might look great on paper, but they cannot replace the role of the RN. Limiting the use of LPNs and LVNs can help decrease incidences in patient care. Increasing the number of RNs on staff to decrease patient load can lead to decreased burnout, which can prevent the decline of the nurse’s perception of patient care. For those who believe that the number of RNs used on a shift might not make a great difference in patient care, then the use of higher quality RNs can. Registered Nurses who are certified in their special units are usually more competent than their non-certified counterparts. This can lead to earlier detection of declining patient status and decreased failure to save rates. Hiring of more nurses might not be practical due to financial reasons, but the hiring of certified nurses without increasing the staff count is another alternative that is not necessarily more expensive in the long term. Based on these mixed results, it is not very clear whether nursing staffing has a direct connection with improved patient outcome. A study of intentionally increasing the staff would be necessary to properly test this research study, but that is the major problem. While staff nurses might feel that it is necessary to deliver higher quality of care, management might not be willing to accept it without researched proof of its