Nurses' assessments of staffing adequacy in care services for older patients following hospital discharge.
Marijke Veenstra, Heidi Gautun
PMID 33222214WHAT IT FOUND
Community nurses' views on staffing adequacy vary widely, with nursing home staff reporting the lowest adequacy.
Perceived poor coordination with hospital discharge teams is linked to lower staffing adequacy scores, regardless of the nurse's role or location.
Key findings
01Nurses in nursing homes reported significantly less adequate staffing compared to those in homecare settings.
02Better perceived vertical collaboration with hospital staff was associated with higher assessments of staffing adequacy across all community care settings.
03A majority of nurses agreed that there were too many unqualified care workers, particularly in nursing homes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that better collaboration causes higher perceptions of staffing adequacy; the relationship may be reciprocal. Staffing adequacy was measured by self-report, which may reflect individual or local workplace culture rather than objective staffing levels. The aggregated measure of staffing does not account for daily fluctuations in workload or specific unit-level shortages. Response rates could not be calculated because the total number of eligible nurses was unknown, raising potential selection bias.
Declared interests
No conflict of interest declared. Funded by the Research Council of Norway.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving hospital-community collaboration will objectively fix staffing shortages. The study shows a correlation between perceived collaboration and perceived staffing adequacy, but it does not prove that better communication alone resolves actual workforce deficits.