Safer nurse workloads could alleviate emergency department crowding
A new study led by researchers from Penn Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) finds that improving hospital nurse workloads could alleviate delays in care contributing to emergency department crowding.
A Penn Nursing study reveals that addressing nurse workload issues could significantly reduce delays in emergency department care, contributing to overcrowding in hospitals. The research, published in Medical Care, demonstrates that increased nurse staffing inadequacy correlates with longer patient stays and higher patient departure rates.
Over 60% of emergency department nurses and 58% of inpatient nurses surveyed reported insufficient staff to manage their workload effectively. Lead author Jane Muir, Ph.D., MSHP, RN, emphasizes that high nurse workloads are detrimental to patient care, particularly for behavioral health conditions, where each additional standard deviation of staffing inadequacy added 18 minutes to the emergency department length of stay.
The study found that hospitals performing below Joint Commission recommendations for emergency department care—such as more than 2% of patients leaving without being seen and a length of stay exceeding four hours for behavioral health patients—experienced worse outcomes. Addressing nurse staffing inadequacy could potentially increase the number of patients treated and reduce wait times, as projected by the researchers.
Funding more bedside nurse positions could lead to approximately 5,000 additional patient treatments and prevent over 250 patients from leaving waiting rooms without being seen. The findings underscore the critical importance of safe nurse staffing in improving healthcare delivery efficiency and patient outcomes.
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