RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
 Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Sep 15, 2017 - 4:49:58 AM
Research Article
Latest Research Channel

subscribe to Latest Research newsletter
Latest Research

   EMAIL   |   PRINT

Nursing workloads multiply likelihood of death among black patients over white patients


Oct 16, 2012 - 4:00:00 AM

 

Older black patients are three times more likely than older white patients to suffer poorer outcomes after surgery, including death, when cared for by nurses with higher workloads, reports research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The large-scale study showed higher nurse workloads negatively affected older surgical patients generally and that the rate was more significant in older black individuals. When the patient-to-nurse ratio increased above 5:1, the odds of patient death increased by 3 percent per additional patient among whites and by 10 percent per additional patient among blacks.

Lead author J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, and Penn Nursing colleagues studied more than 548,000 patients ages 65 and older undergoing general, orthopedic, or vascular surgery in 599 hospitals in California, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These hospitals are among the largest in the country and account for more than one-fifth of the nation's hospitalizations.

Hospitalized surgical patients sometimes experience periods of instability in vital functions, and the quality of nursing care they receive has a significant effect on their recovery and well-being, said Dr. Carthon. This is particularly relevant to older black patients because of associated complex medical conditions that may compromise their health status postoperatively.

In the study, 94 percent of patients were white and 6 percent were black. Data were comprised from nearly 30,000 hospital staff nurses working directly in patient care. The study assessed mortality and failure to rescue, which was defined as death after the development of a complication in the hospital after surgery.

The correlation between nurse staffing and patient outcomes in the U.S. and around the world has been long established, largely by the pioneering work of study co-author Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, who directs the Penn Nursing Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. And, while racial disparities are widely documented in the health sciences literature, how the quality of nursing care may affect minority patient outcomes is a new area of research.

In this study, the data suggest that the probability of death for black patients is equal to that of white patients when the patient-to-nurse ratio is low to average (considered up to 5:1). The finding that the odds of death for older black patients were greater in hospitals where nurses had heavier workloads has particular implications for the delivery of care and signals an important focus of future research and intervention, Dr. Carthon wrote.

These results suggest that improving the quality of postsurgical outcomes of older patients, particularly older black patients, means putting more nurses on the floor, said Dr. Carthon. Better staffed hospitals are better prepared to meet the more complex needs of older patients, particularly minorities with higher rates of co-existing conditions.


Related Latest Research News


Subscribe to Latest Research Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

Online ACLS Certification

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)