Documents Becker, Edmund R. 2 results

"In this article, the authors evaluate the role of the nurse staffing mix on hospital patient satisfaction. Using three years (2009 to 2011) of hospital patient satisfaction data linked to data on the productive staffing hours of registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses, nurse's aides, and contract nurses for 311 California hospitals, the authors analyze how nurse staffing levels affect 10 dimensions of patient satisfaction. The findings indicate that a higher level of RNs per bed appears to increase overall patient satisfaction. Conversely, hospitals with a higher proportion of nursing hours provided by contract nurses have significantly lower levels of patient satisfaction on scores related to overall patient satisfaction and nurses' communication with the patient. The results have implications for RN staffing strategies and inform the broader literature on worker-skill mix and employment arrangements."

"On any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients in the United States has a health care–associated infection (HAI) that the patient contracts as a direct result of his or her treatment. Fortunately, the spread of most HAIs can be halted through proper disinfection of surfaces and equipment. Consequently, cleaners—“environmental services” (EVS) in hospital parlance—must take on the important task of defending hospital patients (as well as staff and the broader community) from the spread of HAIs. Despite the importance of this task, hospitals frequently outsource this function, increasing the likelihood that these workers are under-rewarded, undertrained, and detached from the organization and the rest of the care team. As a result, the outsourcing of EVS workers could have the unintended consequence of increasing the incidence of HAIs. The authors demonstrate this relationship empirically, finding support for their theory by using a self-constructed data set that marries infection data to structural, organizational, and workforce features of California's general acute care hospitals. The study thus advances the literature on nonstandard work arrangements—outsourcing in particular—while sounding a cautionary note to hospital administrators and health care policymakers."