Nurse To Patient Ratio

Summary of Major Findings The literature review concludes that there are a plethora of factors relating to nurse burnout in correlation to nurse to patient ratio. Nurse to patient ratio is a serious issue that needs to be addressed in the nursing community. States nationwide and countries around the world need to make staffing guidelines that are mandated and enforced. Many of the factors that can affect nurse burnout are staffing guidelines (nurse to patient ratio), mandated shifts, overtime, and many more. Through all of the different articles and research some common themes concluded that the quality of patient care decreased when nurses had more patients than they could handle, and that patient satisfaction also decreased (Gordon, Buchanan,

Burnout fatigue is defined as, “the frustration, loss of interest, decreased productivity, and fatigue caused by overwork and prolonged stress. The potential consequences of burnout are emotional distress, physical illness, and interpersonal conflict in nursing” (Winsewski, 2013). Nurses who worked in Emergency Departments, and on Neonatal Intensive care units suffered burnout fatigue more than other nurses (Soroush, Zargham-Boroujeni, Namnabati 2016; Hunsaker, Chen, Maughan, Heaston 2015). When researching the criteria for nurse burnout fatigue, some of the findings indicated that nurses who work in a critical care setting have a higher incidence of this than other nurses who may work on a less stressful unit. When nurses care for patients they have to be at the top of their game and ready for emergencies whenever they present. Nurses who are tired or who have worked long shifts and are mandated to stay longer are more likely to have medication errors, or not provide the most appropriate quality care that they can, and in result suffer from burnout

The issue and need for mandated nurse to patient ratio doesn’t exist just within the borders of the U.S. Other countries such as China, India, and Australia have all done research as to whether or not they should have mandated staff guidelines. “Hospitals with nurse staffing below target levels were associated with increased mortality, reinforcing the need to match staffing with actual patients’ needs” (Yu, Ma, Sun, Lu, Xu 2015). In China a survey was done to assess their nurses and the different factors that influence care and fatigue in health care settings. “A survey of 9688 nurses and 5786 patients in 181 Chinese hospitals found that higher patient-to-nurse ratios were associated with poorer nurse outcomes (e.g. burnout, job dissatisfaction, low nurse ratings for patient care)” (Yu, Ma, Sun, Lu, Xu