Nurse staffing levels revisited: a consideration of key issues in nurse staffing levels and skill mix research

Nurse managers, commissioners of services and workforce planners need to be cognisant of key issues and analyses in the consideration of nurse staffing levels, including the need for a healthy degree of caution regarding the supposed objectivity, scientific basis, or evidence base for rational calculation of optimum nursing staffing levels.

Abstract

The majority of research in the field relates to the acute service sector and there are considerable similarities in issues that transcend international boundaries. Much of the research focuses on the impact on patients and nurses of 'poor' nurse staffing levels. More recent studies have explored the impact of nurse staffing levels on the service organization itself. However, while there may be an association between models of nurse staffing and outcomes, there is insufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship between these factors. In this context it is perhaps time to reconsider how nursing outcomes are defined and measured. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT AND CONCLUSION: Nurse managers, commissioners of services and workforce planners need to be cognisant of key issues and analyses in the consideration of nurse staffing levels. Not least of these is the need for a healthy degree of caution regarding the supposed objectivity, scientific basis, or evidence base, for rational calculation of optimum nurse staffing levels.