Nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios: A scoping review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare management
• Nursing and Midwifery studies
• Patient safety research

Background:

• High nurse and midwife workload is linked to adverse patient outcomes.
• Mandated nurse-to-patient ratios are anecdotally associated with improved patient care and nurse job satisfaction.
• There is a recognized gap in focused research on the impact of these ratios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key outcomes associated with nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios.
• To explore implementation processes of these ratios.
• To determine research needs within the Australian healthcare context.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review methodology was employed.
• Searches were conducted across CINAHL, Open Dissertations, Medline, and Scopus databases.
• Three studies were included after screening 289 articles and assessing 53 full-text documents.

Main Results:

• Included studies focused on nurse outcomes (job satisfaction, burnout), patient outcomes (mortality, readmission, length of stay), and system costs.
• Limited information was found regarding implementation processes.
• No studies specifically addressed midwifery ratios.

Conclusions:

• Nurse-to-patient ratios demonstrate benefits for patients, nurses, and healthcare systems.
• Research on these ratios within Australia is currently limited.
• Implementation processes were inadequately reported, indicating a need for more detailed research.