The importance of Nurse-to-patient ratio
Safe nurse-patient staffing ratios are incredibly important in medical care facilities. The proper number of nurse staff can support better care for patients, enhance patient satisfaction, and reduce nurse fatigue.
When nurses have fewer patients to care for at one time, they’ve shown higher levels of job satisfaction. When nurses are without this support and feel unreasonable expectations placed upon them, they could experience a phenomenon known as nurse burnout.
The quality of patient care decreases as the number of patients in a nurse’s care increases. Aside from risk to the patient, satisfaction is a concern as well. Where nurse-to-patient ratios weren’t effectively balanced, patients reported viewing nursing staff and the facilities where they worked poorly.
It may not seem like it, but employing more nurses can actually be cost effective for healthcare facilities.
In Uganda, the nurse to patient ratio is at 1:11,000. This has lowered the quality of health care given to patients.