Happy Nurses Key to Better Surgical Survival Rates: Study

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A new study suggested that a better nursing work environment increases surgery survival rates.

The Huffington Post reported that health centers equipped with skilled staff and top-notch nursing departments experience fewer casualties after surgery compared to hospitals without the said facilities.

"This study is for the person, referring doctor or health policy analyst asking, 'Would I be better off at this hospital or that hospital?" said lead author Dr. Jeffrey Silber, a Nancy Abramson Wolfson Professor in Health Services Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The study, published in Jama Surgery, involved two groups with 25, 752 surgical patients each. The sample from the groups was of similar age and was equally sick. The individuals in one group were from 35 hospitals with good nursing environments while the other group was from 293 hospitals without good nursing environment.

The researchers matched each patient from the two groups based on their insurance status, race and surgery hype.

The researchers learned that in the hospital with good nursing environments, the rate of death within 30 days of arrival at the hospital is only 4.8 percent, compared to 5.8 percent of patients confined to the other hospitals.

On a separate note, 7.5 percent of patients at hospitals with good nursing environment died after complications while 8.9 percent died for the same reason in hospitals with poor nursing environment.

Moreover, when one is confined in a medical institution with good nursing environment, one cuts his risks to be in the intensive care unit by 50 percent. The researchers believe that this is due to the quality of care provided on the regular patients.

The author noted that hospital with better nursing environments provides better value with better results for about the same costs. The 30-day patient care cost is $5,000 lesser at hospitals with good nursing environments.

"Hospitals with better nursing environments and above-average staffing levels were associated with better value (lower mortality with similar costs) compared with hospitals without nursing environment recognition and with below-average staffing, especially for higher-risk patients," the study concluded.

"You're going to see a difference in the amount of care and the quality of care when you have a good nursing environment," said Ardith Doorenbos, professor at the University of Washington School of Nursing and investigator at the UW Medicine Surgical Outcomes Research Center in Seattle. He added that patients should consider nurse-to-bed ratio and Magnet status when choosing a hospital. Doorenbos is not involved in the study.

Despite the seemingly positive results, Silber warned that the new study couldn't prove that a good nursing environment causes the better outcomes.