Study warns nursing shortages can be deadly

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Nursing shortages can be deadly, warns a new study.

A lack of nurses results in longer hospital stays and a greater risk of patients dying, according to the findings.

The relative risk of dying increased by 9.2% with each day of low registered nurse staffing and by 10.3% for each day of low nursing assistant staffing, reveals the study published in the British Journal of Surgery (BJS).

The study indicated that nursing shortages within the NHS were associated with 4.8% increases in deep vein thrombosis, 5.7% increases in pneumonia, and 6.4% increases in pressure ulcers.

More than half of surgical site infections are preventable, according to previous research.

Previous attempts to tackle the problem have focused mostly on implementing checklists, staff training and improving teamwork.

However, the new study suggests that staff shortages alone may be an important reason for infections and other health issues after surgery.

The University of Southampton research team says nurses play an important role in keeping surgical patients safe and healthy.

And understaffing by both registered nurses and nurse assistants is associated with increased risks of a range of negative health impacts.

One recent review of 44 studies found that higher nurse staffing levels were associated with lower death rates among surgical patients.

But most studies have focused on staffing at the hospital level, rather than in actual surgical wards.

The new research used surgical patient and staffing data from 213,910 hospital admissions from four medical institutions in the National Health Service in England between April 2015 and February 2020.

In situations where staffing levels were below average for the ward, the researchers found that such understaffing increases the relative risk of readmission by 2.3% for nursing shortages, and by 1.4% for nursing assistant shortages.

Study lead author Paul Meredith said: “The safety of patients undergoing surgery is paramount and there is rightly a considerable emphasis on appropriate systems, policies, and procedures.

“This research is a timely reminder that workload is also a major driver of risk and that risks to surgical patients persist beyond the immediate operative period."

Meredith, a senior research fellow in Southampton's School of Health Sciences , added: "Adequate nurse staffing on wards is vital to ensure the safety of patients undergoing and recovering from surgery.”

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