[Variations in nurse staffing in adult and neonatal intensive care units].
OBJECTIVE
This study was done to analyze variations in unit staffing and recommend policies to improve nursing staffing levels in intensive care units (ICUs).


METHODS
A cross-sectional study design was used, employing survey data from the Health Insurance Review Agency conducted from June-July, 2003. Unitstaffing was measured using two indicators; bed-to-nurse (B/N) ratio (number of beds per nurse), and patient-to-nurse (P/N)ratio (number of average daily patients per nurse). Staffing levels were compared according to hospital and ICU characteristics.


RESULTS
A total of 414 institutions were operating 569 adult and 86 neonatal ICUs. Tertiary hospitals (n=42) had the lowest mean B/N (0.82) and P/N (0.76) ratios in adult ICUs, followed by general hospitals (B/N: 1.34, P/N: 0.97). Those ratios indicated that a nurse took care of 3 to 5 patients per shift. Neonatal ICUs had worse staffing and had greater variations in staffing ratios than adult ICUs. About 17% of adult and 26% of neonatal ICUs were staffed only by adjunct nurses who had responsibility for a general ward as well as the ICU.


CONCLUSIONS
Stratification of nurse staffing levels and differentiation of ICU utilization fees based on staffing grades are recommended as a policy tool to improve nurse staffing in ICUs.
Cho
Sung-Hyun
SH
Department of Nursing, Hanyang University.
Hwang
Jeong Hae
JH
Kim
Yun Mi
YM
Kim
Jae Sun
JS
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000191:economics*; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload