The Reduction of Nurse-Patient Ratio (Research Paper Sample)

Nurse-to-patient ratios
Emma Kisang
Newbie Institution
Nurse-to-patient ratios
The nurse-to-patient ratio simply means the number of patients that one nurse is appointed to care for at a particular time. For quality patient care to be achieved in a health facility, the appropriate nurse-to-patient ratio must first be determined and maintained.
In order for a health facility to come up with the suitable nurse to patient ratio, there are some considerations that are made. For example the level at which the facility is in, the number of patients the health facility receives on either a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis, the conditions of each individual patient, amongst many more conditions.
According to Clarke & Donaldson, (2008), nurse staffing and patient care can be calculated in every health facility over a period of 1 year. Some conditions are put into consideration. This may include, staffing across shifts be it day or night time, staffing levels on different units, for example general care and critical care units, the attention given to specific patients in relation to their needs or health condition and the credentials or qualifications of the nurses.
The suitable staffing of nurses is directly related to the nursing quality in health organizations. A national survey of nurse staffing was carried out in China. They came up with an equation: the nurse-to-patient ratio (NTP) = total number of patients in the ward/total number of registered nurses in a given period. This was used in consideration of facility typ