The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that approximately 1.7 million hospitalized patients acquire infections while being treated for other medical conditions. In 2011, there were an estimated 722,000 hospital acquired infections (HAIs) in United States Acute Care Hospitals. Additionally, about 75,000 patients with hospital acquired infections died during their hospitalization (CDC, 2018). (Note: To ensure consistency, we will use HAIs when referring to nosocomial infections, please refer to the definition section for further understanding of the terms) More than half of all the incidents occurred within the intensive care unit. HAIs can be associated with the devices used in medical procedures, such as central line-associated …show more content…
Theoretical Framework
Definitions
Nurse-to-patient ratio- Nurse-to-patient ratios are typically expressed in two ways: the number of nurses working per shift or over a 24-hour period divided by the number of beds occupied by a patient over the same time period or the number of nursing hours per patient bed days (The European Society of Cardiology, 2017). There are other more complex approaches to measure the nurse staffing ratio, but there is no single recommended approach.
Nosocomial Infections: “Nosocomial” or “healthcare acquired infections” (HAIs) appear in a patient under medical care in the hospital or other healthcare facility which was absent at the time of admission. Nosocomial infections can affect patients in any type of setting where they receive care. Infections include central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, surgical site infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Nosocomial pathogens include bacteria, viruses, and fungal parasites. To ensure consistency, we will use HAIs when referring to nosocomial …show more content…
Researches gathered information about nurse to patient ratios from nurses based on surveys and obtained patient data from 168 acute care hospitals in Pennsylvania. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the effects of staffing on patient outcomes. They also estimated the differences in number of deaths and episodes of failure to rescue under different nurse to patient ratios (1:4, 1:6, 1:8) while keeping other patient characteristics unchanged. The study found that the odds of patient mortality increases by 7% for one additional patient assigned to an average nurse. The difference from 4 patients per nurse to 6 patients per nurse and from 4 patients per nurse to 8 patients per nurse would be accompanied by 14% and 31% increase in mortality, respectively. Based on the results, the researchers imply that hospitals with inadequate nurse staffing or high nurse to patient ratios, are likely to experience high risk-adjusted 30-day mortality and failure-to-rescue rates (Aiken et al., 2002). To narrow down the target population, Dang et al., (2002), studied the relationship between nurse staffing in intensive care units (ICU) and the complications rate for patients undergoing most common abdominal aortic surgery. The complications were categorized into three types cardiac (Cardiac infarction and cardiac arrest),