Nursing staffing, nursing workload, the work environment and patient outcomes

Duffield, Christine; Diers, Donna; O'Brien-Pallas, Linda; Aisbett, Chris; Roche, Michael; King, Madeleine; Aisbett, Kate

doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2009.12.004

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Volume 24, Issue 4 , Pages 244-255, November 2011

Nursing staffing, nursing workload, the work environment and patient outcomes

Christine Duffield, PhD
- Centre for Health Services Management, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia
- Corresponding author. Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia. Tel.: +612 9514 4831; fax: +612 9514 4835.
Donna Diers, PhD
- Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, CT 06536, USA
- Centre for Health Services Management, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Linda O'Brien-Pallas, PhD, FCAHS
- Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, Nursing Health Services Research Unit University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 1P8
Chris Aisbett, BSc
- Laeta Pty Ltd, 7 Dolphin St., Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia
Michael Roche, MHSc
- Centre for Health Services Management, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Madeleine King, BSc, PhD
- Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Kate Aisbett, BSc
- Laeta Pty Ltd, 7 Dolphin St., Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia

Received 24 September 2009; received in revised form 15 December 2009; accepted 21 December 2009. published online 11 February 2010.

Abstract

Nurse staffing (fewer RNs), increased workload, and unstable nursing unit environments were linked to negative patient outcomes including falls and medication errors on medical/surgical units in a mixed method study combining longitudinal data (5 years) and primary data collection.