The study found that increasing the proportion of nurses who were more highly educated by ten percent lowered the thirty-day mortality rate of patients by five percent. Conversely, if the workload on these nurses was then increased by one patient the thirty-day risk of mortality rose by five percent. This is indicative of the fact that education and staffing are linked and are both significant when it comes to keeping mortality rates low. Hospitals that have more nurses with higher degrees are larger and they are more often willing to undertake surgical and other techniques which are more advanced. They were also more commonly teaching hospitals and they had lower mean workloads on average. The length of time a nurse had been involved in that profession, and therefore the length of nursing experience, was not found to be related to the mortality of the patients. The conclusion of this study was that people who ended up in hospitals where there were more degree-educated nurses were less likely to die from the procedures that they had there and the care that they received afterward. Source: Mark a. Callahan. Surgical Patients are at Lower Risk of Death in Hospitals with more Degree-Educated Nurses. Evidence-Based Healthcare and Public Health. 2004, 8(2), 67-68.
Additional References:
Fulton, J., Lyon, B., (September 30, 2005). The Need for Some Sense Making: Doctor of Nursing Practice. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 10 No. 3, Manuscript 3.
Objective of this was to address whether the Doctor of Nursing Practice makes a significant difference in quality of a nurse and the care that patients receive, or whether it does not.
Grace, H.K. (1983). Doctoral education in nursing: Dilemmas and directions. In N.L. Chaska (Ed.). The Nursing Profession: A Time to Speak. New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 146-155.
The doctoral education in nursing is causing a serious dilemma because nurses...
Topics in Advanced Practice Nursing eJournal, 5(1).
How the Practice Doctorate in Nursing is set up from a curriculum standpoint can have strong implications for how well nurses perform in this program and therefore care for their patients. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/453247"
McKenna, H.P., Cutcliffe, J.R. & McKenna, P. (2000). PhD or DNSc: What contribution to the substance of nursing? All Ireland Journal of Nursing and Midwifery 1(2), 55-58.
Whether the educational level of a nurse makes a significant difference when it comes to patient care is still up for debate, and is well worth looking into in many countries across the world.
Meleis, a & Dracup, K. (2005) the case against the DNP: History, timing, substance, and marginalization. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. 10(3).
Not every researcher or professional in the medical field believes that the DNP is a good choice or a necessary choice for nurses to undertake, but that they may be wasting their time with it.
Taft, Susan. (2001, January 31). The Nursing Shortage. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Volume 6, Number 1, Overview.
How many nurses are around should be just as significant if not more significant than the level of education that they have attained, but that does not always seem to be the case for patients.
Whall, a.L. (2005). Lest we forget: An issue concerning the doctorate in nursing practice (DNP). Nursing Outlook 53(1), 1.
There are strong issues surrounding the DNP, and looking the other way will not clear them up. With that in mind, these issues must be addressed to help both…
