Nov 21, 2015 2 min read

There is a significant struggle between delivering quality care and the average number of patients we as nurses care for on a typical assignment.

Nurses have long acknowledged the staffing issues that continue in hospitals. However, we continue to go to work day after day, just to find out we are caring for the same number of patients as the terrible day before.

There is a strong relationship between adequate nurse-to-patient ratios and patient outcomes. In 2013, a study of 243,342 surgical patients in Pennsylvania revealed that 4,535, or 2 percent, died within 30 days of discharge. This particular study suggests that the differences in nurse-to-patient staffing ratios may have been a key factor in these deaths.

We can talk about it all day long, but it will not make a difference unless we all collaborate on strategies that focus on long-term solutions that will improve the quality of patient care. In every unit, we must be able to assess patient acuity, the availability of unlicensed assistive personnel, and the skills and education of the nurses and staff.

More harm than good is being done when we are doing the bare minimum to care for our patients.

Mollie Spitler

Eighty Four