Nurse staffing linked to healthcare-associated infections

Editor's Note

In this study from the Columbia University School of Nursing, New York City, researchers found that nurse understaffing is associated with increased risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Using data from 2007 to 2012 in a large urban hospital system:

• 15% of patient days had one shift understaffed (defined as staffing below 80% of the unit median for a shift)
• 6.2% had both day and night shifts understaffed
• patients on units with both shifts understaffed were significantly more likely to develop HAIs 2 days later.

The findings show that when addressing understaffing, hospital administrators need to pay close attention to units with continuous understaffing, the researchers say.