For their study, researchers delivered surveys on missed nursing care and nursing care hours to 3,432 nurses and 980 nursing assistants across 11 acute-care hospitals. Missed nursing care was defined as elements of care which were missed, such as teaching or patient assessments. The researchers saw an overall return rate of 57.3 percent, with a unit response rate ranging from 34.4-99.6 percent. They also collected fall rate data from administrative data repositories.
Researchers found that nursing care hours was negatively associated with the incidence of patient falls, meaning that patient falls were less likely as nursing care hours increased. In addition, the researchers found a positive association between overall missed nursing care and patient fall rates.
The researchers concluded that higher staffing levels and less missed nursing care can help prevent patient falls.
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