Association Between Nurse Staffing Coverage and Patient Outcomes in a Context of Prepandemic Structural Understaffing: A Patient-Unit-Level Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Objective: To evaluate the association between nurse staffing coverage and patient outcomes in a context of structural understaffing. Design: This is a population-based, cross-sectional, multicenter study, including patient and staffing data from eight public hospitals from Catalonia, Spain. Participants: A total of 183,085 adult in-patients admitted to hospital wards and step-down units during 2016 and 2017. Outcomes: In-hospital mortality, 30-day hospital readmission, and three cluster nurse-sensitive adverse events: healthcare-acquired infections, failure to maintain, and avoidable critical complications. The study factor is safe nursing staffing equivalent to nurse staffing coverage > 90%. Results: Average patient acuity was equivalent to 4.5 required

SUBMITTER: Juve-Udina ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11985225 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature