Researchers analyzed Pennsylvania nurse survey and patient discharge data from 1999 and 2006. They found that on average, a 10-point increase in the percentage of nurses holding a baccalaureate degree in nursing in a hospital corresponded with a decrease of 2.12 deaths for every 1,000 surgical patients, according to the study. Furthermore, this increase in the percentage of nurses with a baccalaureate degree was associated with an average 7.47 fewer deaths per 1,000 surgical patients among patients with complications.
The authors estimated that if all 134 hospitals in the study had increased the percentage of their nurses with baccalaureates by 10 points in the study’s time period, approximately 500 surgical patients’ lives may have been saved.
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