Nurse to Patient Ratio and Patient Outcomes: Proposal
Disciplines
Nursing
Abstract (300 words maximum)
There are a few states that have legislated policies to have a standard of patient to nurse ratios in hospitals and Georgia is not one among those. There are more than 100,000 reports of medication errors reported to the FDA annually in the United States. Research of those hospitals such as those in California have shown that since introducing the maximum patients to nurses concluded that it improved patient outcomes, such as a decrease in medication errors and mortality rates within those hospitals. Currently Georgia does not have a mandated nurse-to-patient ratio nor a committee that would oversee ratios. Results from the study may be able to affect policies and legislation to improve nurse-to-patient ratios that could improve patient outcomes such as reducing medication errors and decreasing mortality rates in Georgia. The objective is to improve healthcare practices and policies. Data would be mined from electronic medical records from step-down units from various hospitals across Georgia and analyzed. Patient to nurse ratios would be compared to the amount of medication errors and mortality rates of each of the hospitals’ step-down units.
Keywords: nurse-to-patient ratio, nurse staffing
Academic department under which the project should be listed
WellStar School of Nursing
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Dr. Christie Emerson and Mr. L. Chris Narain
Additional Faculty
Mr. L. Chris Narain, Nursing, lnarain2@kennesaw.edu
Nurse to Patient Ratio and Patient Outcomes: Proposal
There are a few states that have legislated policies to have a standard of patient to nurse ratios in hospitals and Georgia is not one among those. There are more than 100,000 reports of medication errors reported to the FDA annually in the United States. Research of those hospitals such as those in California have shown that since introducing the maximum patients to nurses concluded that it improved patient outcomes, such as a decrease in medication errors and mortality rates within those hospitals. Currently Georgia does not have a mandated nurse-to-patient ratio nor a committee that would oversee ratios. Results from the study may be able to affect policies and legislation to improve nurse-to-patient ratios that could improve patient outcomes such as reducing medication errors and decreasing mortality rates in Georgia. The objective is to improve healthcare practices and policies. Data would be mined from electronic medical records from step-down units from various hospitals across Georgia and analyzed. Patient to nurse ratios would be compared to the amount of medication errors and mortality rates of each of the hospitals’ step-down units.
Keywords: nurse-to-patient ratio, nurse staffing