Missed Nursing Care, Staffing, and Patient Falls

Using minimum nurse staffing regulations to measure the relationship between nursing and hospital quality of care

This study tests whether changes in licensed nurse staffing led to changes in patient safety, using the natural experiment of 2004 California implementation of minimum staffing ratios. We calculated counts of six patient safety outcomes from California Patient Discharge Data from 2000 through 2006, using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) software. For patients experiencing nonmortality-related PSIs, we measured mean lengths of stay. We estimated difference-in-difference equations of changes in PSIs using Poisson models and calculated the marginal impact of nurse staffing on outcomes from fixed-effect Poisson regressions. Licensed nurse staffing increased in the postregulation period, except for hospitals in the highest quartile of preregulation staffing. Growth in registered nurse staffing was associated with improvement for only one PSI and reduced length of stay for one PSI. Higher registered nurse staffing per patient day had a limited impact on adverse events in California hospitals.

Missed nursing care, level of staffing, and job satisfaction: Lebanon versus the United States

Missed nursing care refers to omission of standard required nursing care of patients in acute care hospitals. The objective of this study was to compare the amounts and reasons of missed nursing care, the level of nurse staffing, and job satisfaction between the United States and Lebanon. Several studies in the United States have shown that a significant amount of care is being missed. This study is designed to determine if Lebanon is experiencing a similar phenomenon and what reasons are given for missing nursing care. Findings support that a substantial amount of nursing care is missed in Lebanon, although less than that in the United States (t = 11.53, P < .001), that nurses in Lebanon were less satisfied with being a nurse than are nurses in the United States, and there was no difference in the identification of staffing resources as a reason for missed care in the 2 countries.

Missed nursing care: Magnet versus non-Magnet hospitals

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study was to examine whether the amount, type, and reasons of missed nursing care differ between Magnet and non-Magnet hospitals.

METHOD

Data were collected from 124 medical-surgical, intermediate, intensive care, and rehabilitation units in 11 hospitals located in the Midwest and Western regions of the United States. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted. The MISSCARE Survey was utilized to collect data on the level of perceived missed nursing care, and nursing staffing data was collected for each study unit.

FINDINGS

Missed nursing care showed significant differences according to Magnet status. Separate analysis showed no staffing-level difference between Magnet and non-Magnet hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

The authors concluded that efficiencies in operations, work environment, and culture characterized by Magnet hospitals should be promoted.