Nurse Staffing Ratios: Definition, Importance & Impact on Patient Care

Nurse staffing reflects the ratio of nurses to patients on a hospital ward. Higher ratios are preferable because they indicate better outcomes for patients. Low ratios mean fewer nurses are taking care of more patients. Nurse staffing is defined by several variables.

Nursing Experience

• An experienced nurse can handle higher patient loads than a new graduate who just passed her board exam. Therefore, an experienced nurse may care for six patients during her shift while the new nurse has only two patients. The workload of the new nurse increases as she becomes more experienced.

Patient Acuity

• Acuity refers to how sick a patient is. Units with high acuity like intensive care have high staffing ratios because patients are unstable and require constant attention.

Number of Nurses Working

• The number of nurses working on a shift is affected by sick calls, granted vacation requests, and resignations. Workload is divided among the staff. Fewer nurses on a shift means that the workload of each nurse increases while the staffing ratio decreases.