Nursing team composition and mortality following acute hospital admission (19 August 2024)

Summary

This longitudinal cohort study aimed to assess whether variation in the composition of the nursing team on a hospital inpatient unit is associated with risk of patient death. The authors found that there was a statistically significant increase in the risk of death among patients exposed to days of low nurse staffing or high proportions of temporary staff. When low staffing was averted using temporary staff, the risk was reduced, but remained elevated compared with the baseline. This suggests that the risk of death associated with low nurse staffing is only partly reduced by using temporary staff to remedy shortfalls.