Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration (간호행정학회지)

Korean Academy of Nursing Administration (한국간호행정학회)
권호 표지

The Effects of Medical Staffing Level on Length of Stay

의료 인력의 확보가 환자 입원일수에 미치는 영향

  • Lee, Han-Ju (Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service) ;
  • Ko, Yu-Kyung (Department of Nursing Science, College of Medical Science, Konyang University) ;
  • Kim, Mi-Won (Department of Nursing, Sangmyung University)
  • 이한주 (건강보험심사평가원 부연구위) ;
  • 고유경 (건양대학교 간호학과) ;
  • 김미원 (상명대학교 간호학과)
  • Received : 2011.05.26
  • Accepted : 2011.06.21
  • Published : 2011.09.30
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Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of medical staffing level as bed-to-medical staff ratio on patient outcomes as length of stay (LOS) among hospitals in Korea. Methods: Two hundred and fifty one hospitals participated in the study between January and March 2008. Data for the study was requested by an electronic data interchange from the Health Insurance Review Agency in 2008. In data analysis, SPSS WIN 15.0 program was utilized for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. Results: The mean score for length of stay was 13.6 days. The mean of operating bed-to-nurse ratio was 7.93:1. The predicting factors for LOS were bed-to-nurse's aide ratio, bed-to doctor's ratio, severely ill patient rate, and hospital type. These factors explained 28.9% of the variance in patient outcomes. Conclusion: This study results indicate that the relationship between medical staffing level and patient outcomes is important in the improvement of the quality of patient care. Thus, improvements in the quality of the nurse practice environment could improve patient outcomes for hospitalized patients.

Keywords

References

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