title: The role of nursing team continuity in the treatment of very-low-birth-weight infants: findings from a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the association between nursing team continuity and quality of care.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Research on nurse staffing and its effect on quality of care is investigated to different degrees. However, very few studies have observed whether the continuous deployment of nursing staff is associated with quality of care.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in two university neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). We matched nurse schedule data for the NICUs with nursing-sensitive patient outcomes and quality of care, as perceived by parents. We used analysis of variance to analyse differences in nursing team continuity between NICUs and regression analyses to identify associations with the outcome measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were considerable differences between units in terms of team continuity of nursing staff. Positive associations were found between team continuity and a higher rate of non-invasive respiratory support as well as parents' perceptions of how well they knew their nurse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings show remarkable differences in staff assignment in the different NICUs. In addition to appropriate staffing levels, scheduling nursing teams continuously would appear to play a role in influencing treatment quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This paper emphasises the importance of carefully considered staff scheduling decisions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Business Administration and Healthcare Management, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miedaner
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allendorf
authors.affiliation: Department of Business Administration and Healthcare Management, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Ludwig
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuntz
authors.affiliation: Research Unit Ethics, Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Woopen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care, Children's Hospital, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D000072222:Nurses, Pediatric / Q000523:psychology* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D009746:Nursing, Team / Q000592:standards*; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards
keywords: neonatal intensive care; nurse staffing; nursing continuity; respiratory support