Mandated Nurse Staffing Ratio Essay

Mandated Nurse Staffing Ratios

The United States offers some of the most established and advanced health care in the world. Practitioners and administers are constantly trying to improve the quality of care received by patients in the US. Data has consistently shown that the presence of a registered nurse contributes directly to positive patient outcomes (Cho et al., 2016). The debate across the country, however, concerns the precise number of staff required to provide safe, high-quality care. The issue of safe staffing is one that is of great importance to all involved in the delivery of health care across the country.

In 1996 The Institute of Medicine rejected the proposition of requiring minimum nurse staffing levels in American hospitals.

Both report feeling safer and patients appreciate feeling more attended to (Cho et al., 2011). Furthermore, patients tend to report higher rates of satisfaction when they have shorter hospital stays & direct correlations between length of stay & more nursing time at the bedside have been established (Chan et al., 2011).

Confounding Variables

Without participating in a longitudinal study, it is difficult to truly assess the efficacy in mandating nurse staffing ratios. It is difficult to measure the benefits of mandated staffing due to numerous confounding variables. These confounding variables include the resources available at specific hospitals in addition to the populations that they serve. Hospital volume, RN job satisfaction and the relationship between physicians and nurses have also been shown to affect patient outcomes (Duval et al., 2007).

Economic Ramifications of Mandated Nurse-to-Patient Ratios

It is clear that statewide mandated nurse-to patient ratios result in drastic financial changes for every hospital impacted. Hospitals often have to compensate for hiring more nurses by laying off support staff. Mandated ratios also result in an increase in holding time in emergency rooms . (Douglas,