In a cohort of over 600,000 hospitalized patients, each day of low RN staffing was associated with an increased risk of death within 30 days of admission (adjusted HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.07-1.09), as was each day of low nurse support staffing (aHR 1.07, 95% CI 1.06-1.08), reported Peter Griffiths, RN, PhD, of the University of Southampton, and co-authors in JAMA Network Open.

While these findings aren’t novel, knowing the level of nurse staffing for every single day of a patient’s stay makes it more likely that the findings are causal, Griffiths told MedPage Today. Of note, when low staffing was prevented with the use of temporary staff, the risk of patient death was reduced but remained elevated compared with the baseline, the authors said.