Abstract
The large industry which has grown up around the estimation of nursing requirements for a ward or for a hospital takes little account of variations in nursing skill; meanwhile nursing researchers tend to concentrate on the appropriate organisation of the nursing process to deliver best quality care. This paper, drawing on a Department of Health funded study, analyses the relation between skill mix of a group of nurses and the quality of care provided.
Detailed data was collected on 15 wards at 7 sites on both the quality and outcome of care delivered by nurses of different grades, which allowed for analysis at several levels from a specific nurse-patient interaction to the shift sessions. The analysis shows a strong grade effect at the lowest level which is 'diluted' at each succeeding level of aggregation; there is also a strong ward effect at each of the lower levels of aggregation. The conclusion is simple; you pay for quality care.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 57-72 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Health Economics |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 1995 |
Keywords
- NURSING
- SKILL MIX
- QUALITY OF CARE
- MULTILEVEL MODELING