Nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios : A scoping review

Journal article


Tait, Darcy, Davis, Deborah, Roche, Michael A. and Paterson, Catherine. (2024). Nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios : A scoping review. Contemporary Nurse. 60(3), pp. 257-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2024.2318361
AuthorsTait, Darcy, Davis, Deborah, Roche, Michael A. and Paterson, Catherine
Abstract

Background
A significant body of work has linked high nurse or midwife workload to negative patient outcomes. Anecdotal reports suggest that mandated ratio models enhance patient care and improve nurse job satisfaction. However, there is limited focused research.

Objective
To identify key outcomes, implementation processes, and research needs regarding nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios in the Australian healthcare context.

Design
Scoping review.

Methods
Data sources were CINAHL, Open Dissertations, Medline, and Scopus. 289 articles screened, and 53 full text documents independently assessed against criteria by two reviewers and conflicts resolved by a third reviewer, using Covidence™. Three studies were included in this review.

Results
Studies focused on nurse (job satisfaction, burnout), patient (mortality, readmission, length of stay) and system (costs) outcomes with limited information on implementation processes and no midwifery research.

Conclusions
Ratios provide benefits for patients, nurses, and hospitals although there is limited research in Australia. Implementation was poorly reported.

Keywordsnursing; midwifery; implementation; ratios; workload
Year2024
JournalContemporary Nurse
Journal citation60 (3), pp. 257-269
PublisherRoutledge
ISSN1839-3535
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2024.2318361
PubMed ID38408182
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85185966797
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range257-269
FunderHealth Directorate, Australian Capital Territory
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online26 Feb 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted08 Feb 2024
Deposited30 Jun 2025
Additional information

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

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