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In a study done in 2002, it was reported that each patient added to nurses' workloads was associated with a 7 percent increase in mortality following common surgeries, and that nurse burnout and job dissatisfaction, precursors of voluntary turnover, also increased significantly as nurses' workloads increased (Aiken, Sloane, Cimiotti, Clarke, Flynn, Seago, Spetz, Smith, 2010)
Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D.M., Cimiotti, J.P., Clarke, S.P., Flynn, L., Seago, J.A., Spetz, J., & Smith, H.L. (2010). Implications of the California Nurse Staffing Mandate for Other States. Health Services Research. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908200/#b6
Shekelle, P.G., (2013). Nurse–patient ratios as a patient safety strategy, a systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 158 (5 Pt 2), 404-9.
Welton, J. M. (2007). Mandatory Hospital Nurse to Patient Staffing Ratios: Time to Take a Different Approach. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 12 (3). Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/569391_3
In another study led by Aiken LH, an increase of one registered nurse per unit per day was related to a 9% reduction in the odds of death in the ICU, a 16% reduction in the surgical setting, and a 6% reduction in the medical setting (Shekelle, 2013). These studies also showed lower rates of such things as hospital-acquired pneumonia, unplanned extubation, failure to rescue, and bloodstream infections (Shekelle, 2013).
If mandated nurse patient ratios became a policy for every state in the United States the target population would be nurses because it affects them directly. California is one of the states with a mandated nurse patient ratio law. In one survey done comparing California nurses with New Jersey and Pennsylvania nurses (states with no law in effect), it showed that a significantly lower proportion of California nurses experience high burnout: 29 percent, compared with 34 and 36 percent in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively (Aiken, et. al, 2010).