TY - JOUR T1 - More nursing, fewer deaths JF - Quality and Safety in Health Care JO - Qual Saf Health Care SP - 2 LP - 3 DO - 10.1136/qshc.2005.017343 VL - 15 IS - 1 AU - S P Clarke AU - L H Aiken Y1 - 2006/02/01 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/15/1/2.abstract N2 - The need to connect organizational components and outcomes for improved patient safety The implications for action from the growing body of research on nursing and patient safety are straightforward: hospitals seeking to improve safety outcomes should put a premium on adequate nurse staffing, a high proportion of registered nurses, a well educated nurse workforce, positive nurse-physician relations, and responsiveness of management to addressing problems in patient care identified by nurses at the bedside. A critical mass of research confirms an association between hospital nursing capacity and patient outcomes, both within and across countries with differently organized and financed health care. Recent studies undertaken in the United States, Canada, England, Switzerland, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, and Armenia1–6 all show that the adequacy of nurse staffing and the quality of the nurse working environment are associated with the quality of patient care. In hospitals with poor nurse work environments, patients tend to be at a heightened risk for adverse outcomes—including mortality. The National Quality Forum (NQF) (www.nqf.org), an organization representing a wide array of stakeholders in health care in the United States, has recommended that all hospitals should monitor the quality of the nurse work environment as part of their efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. The International Hospital Outcomes Study has demonstrated the applicability of the instrument … ER -