Yesterday, while perusing my guilty-pleasure, Facebook, I noticed this cartoon. Funny, because it sure has a ring of truth to it, doesn't it?! Auspiciously, this morning, I read a comment from B.J. Bartleson, vice president of Nursing and Clinical Services at the California Hospital Association denying that increased nurse presence in the hospitals improves quality of care. Wow! The comment was in response to a study which, according to its own authors, requires more research follow-up in order to draw conclusions about the efficacy of the California nurse:patient ratio law. I think it's fair to say there are many, many variables to study when looking at quality of care. One factor that influenced my own workload when the ratio law was implemented was the cost-cutting measure of eliminating many ancillary positions. This RN rarely has a nurse aide, has to strip rooms and do many housekeeping tasks, lift and transport her own patients, etc. In this instance, the ratio law may not have lead to improved quality as some studies do suggest. BUT, to state that increased nurses do not lead to improved quality of care is, in my mind, so obviously financially self-serving as to be ludicrous. So, when Bartleson is a patient and his nurse has 10 other patients to care for, we should ask again if he believes staffing doesn't affect quality.
http://www.californiahealthline.org/features/2012/study-nurse-ratio-law-has-mixed-results-on-quality-of-care.aspx
