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Nursing skill mix in European hospitals: cross-sectional study of the association with mortality, patient ratings, and quality of care

BMJ Quality & Safety · 15 November 2016

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Summary

A cross-sectional study of adult acute-care hospitals in several European countries that examined how the proportion of professional nurses, relative to lower-qualified care staff, relates to patient deaths, patient ratings and nurse-reported quality. It found that diluting the share of professional nurses was associated with poorer outcomes, which makes it a key reference in debates on substituting assistants for registered nurses.

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Authors

  • Linda H AikenUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Douglas SloaneUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USAORCID 0000-0003-2541-9783
  • Peter GriffithsFaculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UKORCID 0000-0003-2439-2857
  • Anne Marie RaffertyKing's College London, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, London, UK
  • Luk BruyneelUniversity of Leuven, Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy, Leuven, Belgium
  • Matthew McHughUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Claudia B MaierDepartment of Healthcare Management, Technische Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • Teresa Moreno-CasbasInvestén-Isciii. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Madrid, Spain
  • Jane E BallFaculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
  • Dietmar AusserhoferUniversitat Basel Department Public Health, Institute of Nursing Science, Basel, BS, Switzerland
  • Walter SermeusUniversity of Leuven, Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy, Leuven, Belgium

Cite this work

Aiken LH, Sloane D, Griffiths P, Rafferty AM, Bruyneel L, McHugh M, et al. Nursing skill mix in European hospitals: cross-sectional study of the association with mortality, patient ratings, and quality of care. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2016;26(7):559-568. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2016-005567

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