Skip to main content

Low Emergency Nurse Staffing Tied to Adverse Events

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 14, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 14, 2024 -- Lower levels of nurse staffing in the emergency department are associated with adverse events, according to a review published online Feb. 1 in the International Journal of Nursing Studies.

Jonathan Drennan, Ph.D., from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems at University College Dublin, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to examine the relationship between nurse staffing, skill mix, and quality of care in the emergency department.

Based on 16 included studies, the researchers found that poorer staffing levels in emergency departments are associated with increased patient wait times, a higher proportion of patients who leave without being seen, and an increased length of stay. There was also an association between lower levels of nurse staffing and an increase in time to medications and therapeutic interventions, as well as an increased risk for cardiac arrest in the emergency department.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had lasting impact on the well-being of health care workers and there is an increase in the number of nurses saying they want to leave emergency nursing,” coauthor Peter Griffiths, Ph.D., from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. “This will make it increasingly challenging to staff emergency departments effectively. Our research suggests this could have a range of negative outcomes for patients.”

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted March 2024

Read this next

Live Birth Rate Lower With Frozen Versus Fresh Embryo Transfer

FRIDAY, Feb. 7, 2025 -- Frozen embryo transfer is associated with a lower live birth rate compared with fresh embryo transfer among women with a low prognosis for in vitro...

Concentrations of Selected PFAS Up in Firefighters After 2023 Maui Wildfires

FRIDAY, Feb. 7, 2025 -- Maui County firefighters involved in the response to the 2023 Maui wildfires had higher median summed concentrations of some perfluoroalkyl and...

Eightfold Increase in Wildfire-Linked ED Encounters Seen With Onset of LA Wildfires

THURSDAY, Feb. 6, 2025 -- The percentage of wildfire-associated emergency department encounters increased with onset of the Los Angeles County (LAC) wildfires in January 2025...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.