Study Reveals that Nursing Shortage Hurts Patient Care

According to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, patients in hospitals with low numbers of registered nurses (RNs) are more likely to suffer complications, stay in the hospital longer, and die from treatable conditions.

"I estimated that hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of deaths each year are due to low staffing," says Dr. Jack Needleman, an economist at the Harvard School of Public Health and the lead author of the study. The U.S. has been experiencing an ever worsening nursing shortage since the 1990s. Currently, 126,000 nursing jobs are unfilled-approximately 12% of capacity.

The study was one of the largest to ever look at patient care in relation to staffing. Findings were based on a computer analysis of discharge records from more than 6 million patients at 799 hospitals in 11 states. The purpose of the study was to determine if there is a relationship between nursing staffing levels and how patients fared during hospital stays.

For certain aspects of care, researchers found that nurses did indeed make a difference. In hospitals with higher nursing staffing, stays were 3% to 5% shorter, and complications rates were 2% to 9% lower. According to Dr. Needleman, nurses "are the eyes and ears of the hospital…If something goes wrong, they can catch the signs early before the problem gets worse." However, early detection cannot happen if nurses do not have adequate time to observe their patients due to staffing shortages.

Excerpted from "Shortage of Nurses Hurts Patient Care, Study Finds" by Denise Grady, New York Times, May 30, 2002