The relationship between nurse staffing and selected patient outcomes.

Abstract

This research study aimed at determining the relationships between nurse staffing and nurse sensitive outcomes (urinary tract infection, pressure ulcers, pneumonia, missed dose, wrong dose, and wrong drug) in the University Central Teaching Hospital of Kigali. A retrospective, descriptive design guided the study. A purposive sampling method was used to select the unit of study. Patient files were selected (n =797) and reviewed from the medical and surgical wards in February and March 2006. A checklist format was used to collect the data. The first instrument for data collection on staffing included the shifts, the categories of nurses, the total number of nurses and the patient census. The second instrument on adverse events included all events under study. Data collection was done by the researcher. A quantitative method was used to analyze data. The results indicated a statistically significant relationship between pressure ulcers, pneumonia, and phlebitis and number of registered nurses. Risk of wound infection was statistically significant between both increased numbers of enrolled nurse and registered nurses as well as nurse: patient ratio. The findings also revealed a statistically significant protective relationship between pneumonia, missed dose, and phlebitis with increased nurse: patient ratio. The findings of this study revealed no statistically significant relationship were found between urinary tract infection, pneumonia, phlebitis, and missed medication dose and the mean number of enrolled nurses. There was no statistically significant relationship between urinary tract infection and missed medication dose and the mean number of registered nurses. The result of this study suggests that there is an impact of nursing workload and expertise on patient outcomes.