How a Reduction in Nursing Impacts Hospital Centers; A Scoping Review

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the reduction in nurse staffing levels and the quality of patient care and hospital financial performance. The online database PubMed was searched by employing the MeSH terms “Nurse Staffing AND Hospitals AND (Patient Care OR Financial Performance)” and incorporating a set of inclusion (e.g., tracks trends in nurse staffing numbers and are conducted in adult medical units) and exclusion criteria (e.g., out-patient medical centers that aren’t affiliated with an academic institution). Through integrating a systematic search methodology into the format of a scoping literature review, this paper identifies that reducing nurse staffing correlates with higher rates of patient mortality and patient complications. Lower RN levels also correlated with higher costs in hospitals, thus a reduction in profit; though, this finding was inconsistent across included articles. The findings from this review contribute to the rising debate over the vitality of nurses in the healthcare industry. Along with the quantity of staffing, the quality of employment provided to nurses will help hospitals efficiently use their resources in providing patients with high value care—the best care possible.