Better educated nurses and more of them increase the likelihood for good outcomes among hospital patients

Research from The Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania shows that for every 10% increase in the number of staff nurses with a bachelors degree the risk of the patients death within 30 days of admission to the hospital decreased by 7%.

Overworking nurses by giving them one additional patient increased the likelihood of death within 30 days of admission by 7%.

The study concludes that a key to improving patient safety in the hospital is to evaluate workloads and education for nurses.

Most patients and their families believe that all hospitals are about the same and that all nurses have the same training. There are many ways that a person can become a registered nurse, and this does not always require a bachelors degree. Hospitals have different numbers of nurses per patient, and even within the same hospital these numbers may vary by shift.

Linda Turley