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Suboptimal Nurse Staffing Ratios Tied to Adverse Patient Safety Events

Suboptimal nurse staffing ratios can lead to adverse patient safety events, like patient mortality or longer hospital stay, according to new data.

nurse staffing ratios prevent adverse patient safety events

Source: Getty Images

By Sara Heath

- Healthcare organizations with suboptimal nurse staffing ratios are more likely to see higher mortality rates and longer hospital stays, two key adverse patient safety events that can also cost healthcare organizations money.

The data, published in BMJ Open, specifically found that for every one-patient increase in nurse workloads, organizations see a 16 percent increase in the mortality rate and a 5 percent increase in odds of a patient staying an extra day in the hospital.

This comes as the medical industry debates nurse staffing ratios and how to enforce them. In Illinois, HB 2604 Nurse Staffing Limits Act sets a minimum nurse staffing ratio. The bill would set that minimum to no more than four patients assigned to a single nurse at a given time.