Higher nurse to patient ratio linked to reduced risk of inpatient death

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/b-hnt020816.php

Public Release: 9-Feb-2016
Higher nurse to patient ratio linked to reduced risk of inpatient death
Death rates 20 percent lower in hospitals with 6 or fewer patients per registered nurse
BMJ

A higher nurse to patient ratio is linked to a reduced risk of inpatient death, finds a study of staffing levels in NHS hospitals, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

In trusts where registered (professionally trained) nurses had six or fewer patients to care for, the death rate was 20 per cent lower than in those where they had more than 10.

Policies geared towards substituting registered nurses with healthcare support workers (healthcare assistants and nursing auxiliaries) should at the very least be reviewed, conclude the researchers

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