Staffing and Patient Safety Response

RESPONSE

Response: Staffing and Patient Safety

I have in the past reviewed plenty of literature which appears to clearly indicate that there is indeed a strong link between staffing and patient safety. For instance, Griffiths, Recio-Saucedo, Dall’Ora, Briggs, Maruotti, Meredith, Smith and Ball (2018) indicate that low nurse staffing levels do have a negative impact on patient safety outcomes. The authors also point out that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has in its safe staff guidelines recognized that the relevance of appropriate nurse staffing cannot be overstated in the maintenance of patient safety.

On the basis of the recommendations (i.e. by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and findings indicated above, I am convinced that California’s mandated ratios do contribute positively in efforts to further enhance or promote patient safety. Others who appear to make a similar finding are Haegdorens, Bogaert, Meester, and Monsieurs (2019) who are categorical that studies conducted in the past indicate that adequate nurse staffing levels result in improved patient outcomes as well as decreased mortality in hospital settings. More specifically, in the words of the authors, “there is a growing body of evidence indicating that inadequate nurse staffing in acute care hospitals is associated with adverse events such as patient falls, health-care related infections, medication errors and in-hospital mortality” (Haegdorens, Bogaert, Meester, and Monsieurs, 2019, p. 77). In the final analysis, it is thus clear that California’s move to mandate staff ratios is a move in the right direction in efforts to promote patient safety and, hence, ensure positive patient outcomes.

References

Griffiths, P., Recio-Saucedo, A., Dall’Ora, C., Briggs, J., Maruotti, A., Meredith, A., Smith, P. & Ball, J. (2018). The association between nurse staffing and omissions in nursing care: A systematic review. J Adv. Nurs., 74(4), 1474-1487.