Staffing intensive care units: a consideration of contemporary issues

Intensive care nurses are an expensive and scarce resource. The internal market within the National Health Service requires greater scrutiny of expenditure in all areas, not least staffing. Inevitably questions are raised regarding the evidence to justify the nurse:patient ratios in specialist areas such as intensive care. This paper addresses some of the issues surrounding staffing in intensive care and discusses the impact of changes in medical practice on the nursing role. The nurse:patient ratio is lower in the USA, therefore a brief comparison between the two countries is provided in order to inform discussion and debate. The importance of these issues for all intensive care nurses is emphasised, together with a plea for a substantive study to provide evidence of nursing work and inform future decision-making by the purchasers and providers of intensive care services.