Loading...
Nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios : A scoping review
Tait, Darcy Davis, Deborah Roche, Michael A. Paterson, Catherine
Tait, Darcy
Davis, Deborah
Roche, Michael A.
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.
Keywords
nursing, midwifery, implementation, ratios, workload
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Contemporary Nurse
Book
Volume
60
Issue
3
Page Range
257-269
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 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.