Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: evolution of an international study.
Industry-wide health sector reforms in the United States, Canada, and Europe have provided a unique opportunity to examine the effects of hospital restructuring on inpatient nursing care and patient outcomes across an array of settings. Seven interdisciplinary research teams--1 each in Alberta, British Columbia, England, Germany, Ontario, Scotland, and the United States--have formed an international consortium whose aim is to study the effects of such restructuring. Each site has enrolled large numbers of hospitals and nurses to explicate the role that organization of nursing care, a target of hospital restructuring, plays in differential patient outcomes. The study seeks to understand more fully the influence of both nurse staffing and the nursing practice environment on patient outcomes. Discussion of the theoretical foundation, study design, and process of developing the study instruments and measures illustrates the process to date, as well as the feasibility of and opportunities inherent in such an international endeavour.
Sochalski
J
J
Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. julieas@pobox,upenn.edu
Estabrooks
C A
CA
Humphrey
C K
CK
D000416:Alberta; D001955:British Columbia; D004739:England; D005858:Germany; D006754:Hospital Restructuring / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D015401:Nursing Administration Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009864:Ontario; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012606:Scotland; D014481:United States