title: Evaluation of a patient care delivery model: patient outcomes in acute cardiac care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the influence of nurse staffing and work environment variables on patient outcomes by testing a conceptual model.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, correlational design with cross-sectional and longitudinal components was conducted in Canadian cardiac and cardiovascular care inpatient units.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from multiple sources. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine relationships among variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate that patient outcomes are influenced not only by patient and nurse characteristics, but also by organizational staffing practices. Organizations that manage the complexity of work conditions and target staffing utilization levels between 80% and 88% at the unit level can optimize patient outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Empirical validation of the model provides evidence to inform management decisions about hospital nurse staffing.
authors: Nursing Health Services Research Unit, Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. raquel.meyer@utoronto.ca
authors: Raquel M
authors: RM
authors: Meyer
authors: Sping
authors: S
authors: Wang
authors: Xiaoqiang
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Donna
authors: D
authors: Thomson
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: O'Brien-Pallas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003325:Coronary Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment / Q000458:organization & administration; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009509:New Brunswick; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009864:Ontario; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013598:Systems Theory; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data