Title

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

Authors

Authors

L. Unruh

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

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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