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Article: The effect of nurse staffing patterns on medical errors and nurse burnout.
- Article from:
- AORN Journal
- Article date:
- June 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Little disagreement exists about the relationship between nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes in health care settings. Higher staffing levels have been shown to result in better patient outcomes compared with lower nurse staffing levels. (1-15)
Various measures such as managed health care and reduced reimbursement from insurance companies have combined with the nursing shortage to lead hospital administrators to rely on voluntary and mandatory overtime to solve their nurse staffing problems. According to a 2007 report published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), (16) chronic fatigue and poor global sleep quality (ie, a measure of ...