HOW ABOUT THIS???

[jmtndl]

:coollook:What if hositals started cutting nurse to patient ratios...a major factor in improved patient outcomes...and marketing it? "Our nurses have time for you...at Perfect Hospital, our nurses work with a 4:1 ratio at all times. We have found that this insures they have the time to spend with you that you want, during your time of illness and need. Our nurses are calm and composed, and can identify and meet your every need.In support of the nurses, we also have plentiful ancillary staff to meet those non-nursing needs!Please come tour our facility. You will find happy nurses and pleased patients! Our motto is "A calm, relaxed nurse to meet your needs...Guarenteed!" Think it would fly?

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Well, our unit did just that. We redesigned how we did staffing, got rid of team nursing (where an RN was responsible for 6-8 patients with the help of an aide), initiated primary nursing, limited the RN to pt ratio to 4:1 during the day and 5:1 during the noc. Our nurse manager was on board with this, went to bat for us, increased our staffing budget, and fought for the budget increase with the VPs, CEO and the board. We argued that we would increase staff and patient satisfaction and increase pt safety. We've been doing this for 6 months now; our fall rate has been cut in half, our low turn over rate remains the same (despite the fact that our hospital pays RNs less than area hospitals--so in other words, we aren't looking for greener grass), and our medication error rate has dropped 25%. Our code rate, low to begin with, is nearly zero (though our rapid response rate has remained the same). We've also cut our overtime by 75%; nurses aren't staying over to chart, because they can get their work done during the shift. All of this is unofficial thus far; we're waiting until our next full quarter to start really compiling evidence that we can correlate these improvements directly to our staffing.

Encourage your nurse manager to PUBLISH!!!!