Running Head: NURSE TO PATIENT RATIO 1

Nurse to patient ratio

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Affiliation

Date
NURSE TO PATIENT RATIO 2

Abstract

An optimum nurse to patient ratio is one of the major concerns of different healthcare facility

leaders in the whole universe. Nurse-to ratio has various benefits for both the patients and

nurses, and that is very important for both the safety of the patients as well as providing

conducive healthcare services. Therefore, to have effective addressing of the nurse-to-patient

ratio, this paper will have a thorough explanation of the term and why it is needed in the

provision of healthcare services. Various hospitals have their criteria used in dictating the

number of patients that are cared for by certain nurses during the same period. There are

discussions throughout the entire world on the standardization of the nurse to patient ratio

such that there is an adequate provision of care to the patients. The paper describes some of

the challenges of a non-conducive patient to nurse ratio for both the patients and the

healthcare service providers.

Patient to nurse ratio

A nurse-to-patient ratio is defined by most individuals as the ratio of how many patients

can be provided care by one nurse at the same period. There are various factors helpful in

determining the nurse-to-patient level; one of the most important factors that are very useful

in determining the nurse-to-patient ratio is the severity or the living conditions of the patient

being provided healthcare by the nurse (Sharma & Rani, 2020). An example of a conducive

patient to nurse ratio is when the doctor or nurse works in the intensive care unit; in the ICU,

the nurse to patient ratio should be one nurse to one or two patients. In case the nurse

operates in any other unit having patients that are not severe, it is proper to have the nurse to
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patient ratio as one nurse o four or five patients. Various hospitals have their own criteria used

in dictating the number of patients that are cared by certain nurses during the same period.

there are discussions throughout the entire world on the standardization of the nurse to

patient ratio such that there is an adequate provision of care to the patients (Rassin & Silner,

2007); the standardization of the nurse to patient ratio in the entire world means all hospitals

will be obligated to employ the standard to be legible for the provision of care in the country.

Various studies are showing that the appropriate nurse and other healthcare providers number

would be very helpful in achieving different goals within the healthcare facilities. The

appropriate number of nursing staff would be important in achieving economic and clinical

economic improvements within patient care, and many other achievements as described in this

paper.

Healthcare facilities must have considerations of the nurse-to-patient ratio in their

environment as a measure because it would improve the provision of services in the

environment. There is a conducive and non-conducive patient-nurse ratio; the non-conducive

patient to nurse ratio is a disaster. An example of a non-conducive patient to nurse ratio is

when the patient arrives on the medical-surgical floor after moving from the Emergency Room

and is placed into a certain room where there are other services yet to be provided; the

Emergency room provides a necessary report concerning the admitted individual to the

necessary nurse but she does nothing for over twenty minutes; the nurse has the responsibility

of attending to other patients who were earlier admitted making it more twenty minutes late to

provide care to the admitted patient and having forty minutes in total. The medical nurse

provides care to other five additional patients. Therefore, it will take a full hour for the nurse to
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make full preparations to attend to the already admitted new patient; within the full hour,

various severe conditions would happen to the admitted new patient. Those are some of the

conditions that are experienced by both the patients and nurses in our society today. That

means having a safe nurse to patient ratio would help in keeping the safety of patients and

decreasing the shortage of medical personnel.

Safety of patients

One of the core reasons to have a conducive nurse to patient ratio is to promote the

safety of the patients. To have the safety of patients, the healthcare facilities must determine a

conducive or safe nurse-to-patient ratio and that is promoted through rising certain questions.

one of the most important questions is how many medical personnel especially nurses are

needed to provide sufficient type of care in a given ward or unit in the hospital (Olley et al.,

2019). the decision to provide a conducive nurse to patient care is dependent on different

several factors, for example, the number of needs of the patients, the discharges, the number

of admission of patients, the level of transfers during the different shifts, the availability of

resources in the healthcare facilities, the level of experience of the nurses, the unit layout, and

the technology used in the provision of healthcare services to the patients. therefore, to have

and promote the safety of patients while receiving healthcare, the healthcare facilities must

provide a good ratio, probably 1 nurse to 1 or 2 patients in the Intensive care Unit, 1 nurse to 3

or 5 patients in the other units, and 1 midwife to 1 pregnant mother in the maternity ward. The

provision of a good nurse to patient ratio helps in providing continuity of care for patients and

reduces nursing errors (Higgins et al., 2017). The nursing errors are reduced because of the

accuracy of the nurses during their services.

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Nurse shortage

The shortage of nurses is an element to consider when studying the ratio of nurses to

patients. The reason why it is conducive to study the shortage of nurses during the study of

nurse to patient ratio is that when the number of nurses is few, there are higher chances of

allocating few nurses to a great number of patients. There are various reasons for shortages of

nurses; the first reason is the increased number of retiring nurses. When the number of retiring

nurses increases without having replacement with new ones or having a less number of

replacing nurses than the retired nurses, there are higher chances of having shortages of nurses

causing low nurses to attend to a higher number of patients. The Low percentage of new nurses

is quite dangerous because the workforce will be less to handle the different medical conditions

of the available patients. The shortage of nurses leads to certain disadvantages or challenges;

the first challenge is the burnout of nurses. Nurse burnout refers to the situation characterized

by a loss of motivation in nurses, frustration feelings, and a reduction of energy in the nurses

(Aiken et al., 2002). The burnout of nurses leads to lower performances in healthcare facilities.

The other challenge of shortage of nurses is the decreased interaction between the healthcare

providers and the patients; it will be hard for the healthcare providers to have good

communication effectively with a large group of patients (Van den Oetelaar et al., 2016). There

is a higher probability that a higher nurse to patient ratio causes higher mortality rates.

Conclusion

Healthcare facilities must understand how important the nurse to patient ratio is during

the provision of services. A nurse-to-patient ratio is defined by most individuals as the ratio of
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how many patients can be provided care by one nurse at the same period. A conducive nurse to

patient ratio is important to provide safety for patients. The provision of a good nurse to

patient ratio helps in providing continuity of care for patients and reduces nursing errors. The

nursing errors are reduced because of the accuracy of the nurses during their services. Failure

to have continuity of services, accuracy, and having higher nursing errors will cause increased

mortality rates in the healthcare facilities during the provision of services. The main challenge in

creating conducive nurse to patient ratios is the shortage of nurses. Some of the causes of the

shortage of nurses are a higher number of retiring nurses and a low percentage of new nurses;

which causes nurse burnout and decreased patient to nurse interactions.

References

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Triangulated Quality Improvement Assessment. Journal of nursing care quality, 32(3),

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