Pediatric Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care in the Hospital Setting

Abstract

Indicators of quality and nurse staffing in pediatrics are distinct from adults. A retrospective, correlational, linear mixed model design was used to describe relationships between pediatric nurse staffing and 5 indicators of quality care from a convenience sample of 7 academic children's hospitals. Key findings supported a strong inverse relationship between the proportion of hours of pediatric nursing care delivered by registered nurses and the rate of occurrence of central line (P < .001) and bloodstream infections (P < .05). Supplemental nurse staffing hours also demonstrated relationships between bloodstream infections and parent/family complaints.