J Korean Acad Nurs Adm.  2011 Sep;17(3):327-335.

The Effects of Medical Staffing Level on Length of Stay

• Lee H
• Ko YK
• Kim MW

Abstract

PURPOSE
The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of medical staffing level as bed-to-medical staff ratio on patient outcomes as length of stay (LOS) among hospitals in Korea.
METHODS
Two hundred and fifty one hospitals participated in the study between January and March 2008. Data for the study was requested by an electronic data interchange from the Health Insurance Review Agency in 2008. In data analysis, SPSS WIN 15.0 program was utilized for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression.
RESULTS
The mean score for length of stay was 13.6 days. The mean of operating bed-to-nurse ratio was 7.93:1. The predicting factors for LOS were bed-to-nurse's aide ratio, bed-to doctor's ratio, severely ill patient rate, and hospital type. These factors explained 28.9% of the variance in patient outcomes.
CONCLUSION
This study results indicate that the relationship between medical staffing level and patient outcomes is important in the improvement of the quality of patient care. Thus, improvements in the quality of the nurse practice environment could improve patient outcomes for hospitalized patients.

Keyword

Staffing; Patient outcome; Length of stay

MeSH Terms

Electronics
Electrons
Humans
Insurance, Health
Length of Stay
Patient Care
Statistics as Topic

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