Licensed nursing staff reductions and substitutions in Pennsylvania hospitals, 1991-1997

    Authors

    L. Unruh

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Public Health Policy

    Keywords

    EMPLOYMENT; PERSONNEL; TRENDS; Health Care Sciences & Services; Health Policy & Services; Public, ; Environmental & Occupational Health

    Abstract

    Nurses report a decline in RN/patient and skill mix in the 1990s while quantitative studies fail to confirm this. This study examines aggregate hospital nursing staff in Pennsylvania from 1991-1997, focusing on changes in licensed nursing staff. It finds that licensed nursing staff declined while nursing assistants increased in this period. With adjustment for patient acuity, there was a slight decrease in RN/adjusted patient days of care (APDC), a 23% decrease in LPN/APDC, and a 4% decrease in licensed nurse/APDC. The RN/nurse ratio increased slightly, and licensed nurse/nurse fell slightly. Since RNs often operate in environments which make use of teams of licensed staff, nurses' perceptions of a decline in the RN/patient ratio is a result of the decline in licensed staff/APDC, and of an increase in patient acuity.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Public Health Policy

    Volume

    22

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2001

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    286

    Last Page

    310

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000171416400004

    ISSN

    0197-5897

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