TAILR (Nursing-Sensitive Events and Their Association With Individual Nurse Staffing Levels) Project: Protocol for an...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare research
• Nursing science
• Patient safety

Background:

• Nursing-sensitive events (NSEs) are frequent adverse events in hospitals, leading to poor patient outcomes and increased costs.
• Existing research often lacks patient-level analysis of nurse staffing and its impact on NSEs.
• Multicenter longitudinal studies are needed to generalize findings on nurse staffing and NSEs.

Purpose of the Study:

• Determine the prevalence, preventability, type, and severity of NSEs.
• Describe patient-level nurse staffing exposure across diverse hospital settings.
• Assess the impact of nurse staffing on NSEs and identify safe staffing thresholds.

Main Methods:

• International multicenter observational study across 4 countries, 14 hospitals, and 61 units.
• Systematic retrospective record reviews of 3680 patient admissions over a 16-week period.
• Daily collection of nurse staffing data (number, education) and patient data (hospitalization >48 hours) to analyze associations.

Main Results:

• Data verification is ongoing across 4 countries as of January 2024.
• Data analysis is scheduled for completion by spring 2024.
• First results are anticipated in late 2024.

Conclusions:

• The study will offer comprehensive data on NSEs, their characteristics, and contributing factors.
• It aims to elucidate mechanisms linking nurse staffing to NSEs and identify optimal staffing levels.
• Findings will inform strategies for optimizing staffing resources to reduce NSEs and enhance patient safety.