Hospital Understaffing and Poor Work Conditions Associated with Physician and Nurse Burnout and Intent to Leave

A unique collaborative study on hospital clinician wellbeing by teams at 60 of the nation’s best hospitals, defined by Magnet Hospital Recognition, was published today in JAMA Health Forum. The study found that physicians and nurses, even at hospitals known to be good places to work, experienced adverse outcomes during the pandemic and want hospital management to make significant improvements in their work environments and in patient safety. The solutions to high hospital clinician burnout and turnover, they say, are not resilience training for clinicians to better cope with adverse working conditions but organizational improvements that provide safe workloads and better work-life balance.

Better Staffed Hospitals Before Pandemic Had Better Outcomes During It

According to a new study published in Nursing Outlook, the journal of the American Academy of Nursing, chronic hospital nurse understaffing and poor hospital work environments that predated the Covid-19 pandemic largely explain the disruptions in nursing care seen during the pandemic and continuing today.

Addressing Systemic Inequities Linked to Readmission Disparities for Minority Stroke Patients

Racial minorities are disproportionately affected by stroke, with Black patients experiencing worse post-stroke outcomes than White patients. Racial disparities in stroke outcomes have been linked to suboptimal control of risk factors such as hypertension, lack of access to health care, and decreased utilization of neurologic services. However, it was previously unknown if outcomes for Black ischemic stroke patients were affected by care settings with insufficient nursing resources.

EHR Usability Issues Linked to Nurse Burnout and Patient Outcomes

A new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) has investigated associations between EHR usability and nurse job outcomes (burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave) and surgical patient outcomes (inpatient mortality and 30-day readmission).

New York State’s Hospital Nurse Staffing Legislation Predicted to Save Lives and Money

According to a new study published in Medical Care, improving hospital nurse staffing as proposed in pending legislation in New York state would likely save lives. The cost of improving nurse staffing would be offset by savings achieved by reducing hospital readmissions and length of hospital stays.

Matthew D. McHugh Elected for Membership to the National Academy of Medicine

Matthew D. McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, FAAN, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Dr. McHugh is the Independence Chair for Nursing Education and Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Associate Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.