Background: Time trends and seasonal patterns have been observed in nurse staffing and nursing-sensitive patient\noutcomes in recent years. It is unknown whether these changes were associated.\nMethods: Quarterly unit-level nursing data in 2004ââ?¬â??2012 were extracted from the National Database of Nursing\nQuality IndicatorsÃ?® (NDNQIÃ?®). Units were divided into groups based on patterns of missing data. All variables were\naggregated across units within these groups and analyses were conducted at the group level. Patient outcomes\nincluded rates of inpatient falls and hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Staffing variables included total nursing hours\nper patient days (HPPD) and percent of nursing hours provided by registered nurses (RN skill-mix). Weighted linear\nmixed models were used to examine the associations between nurse staffing and patient outcomes at trend and\nseasonal levels.\nResults: At trend level, both staffing variables were inversely associated with all outcomes (p < 0.001); at seasonal\nlevel, total HPPD was inversely associated (higher staffing related to lower event rate) with all outcomes (p < 0.001)\nwhile RN skill-mix was positively associated (higher staffing related to higher event rate) with fall rate (p < 0.001)\nand pressure ulcer rate (p = 0.03). It was found that total HPPD tended to be lower and RN skill-mix tended to be\nhigher in Quarter 1 (January-March) when falls and pressure ulcers were more likely to happen.\nConclusions: By aggregating data across units we were able to detect associations between nurse staffing and\npatient outcomes at both trend and seasonal levels. More rigorous research is needed to study the underlying\nmechanism of these associations.
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