Higher nurse to patient ratio and increased levels of admissions are associated withrisk of death and malpractice during hospital admissions. Many...

Question Answered step-by-step Higher nurse to patient ratio and increased levels of admissions are associated with risk of death and malpractice during hospital admissions. Many hospitals are attempting to cut costs by relying on unlicensed nursing assistive personnel to provide most of the hands-on care to patients. A retrospective longitudinal study conducted by Griffiths et al. (2019) found that “the hazard of death increased by 3% for every day a patient experienced RN staffing below ward mean” and that “each day of exposure to nursing assistant staffing below the mean was associated with a 4% increase in the hazard of death” and we should not encourage the use of nursing assistance to compensate for the shortage of registered nurses. But regardless, understaffing of nurses is detrimental to the patients they take care of. When we see the negative effects, and lack of proper nursing care, we can open ourselves to possible malpractice. Our patients come first, but when you are overloaded it becomes extremely difficult to provide excellent care. Our patients depend on us to help them, and when we are unable to satisfy their needs, it’s the patient who suffers. References Griffiths, P., Maruotti, A., Alejandra, R. S., Redfern, O. C., Ball, J. E., Briggs, J., . . . Smith, G. B. (2018). Nurse staffing, nursing assistants and hospital mortality: Retrospective longitudinal cohort study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 28(8), 609. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1136/bmjqs-2018-008043 You talked about how high nurse to patient ratios increase the risk of death and malpractice during hospital admissions. Serious events such as these are devastating to both the patients and nurses involved. How much money do you think sentinel events related to improper ratios cost an organization each year? What are the actual numbers? Use a reference to support your statement Health Science Science Nursing NUR 300 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)