Qualitative Data
Article: Health care cost growth, drivers, and implications for states by Leitz, S. (2007)
Quantitative Data
Article: The Impact of Nurse Staffing on Hospital Costs and Patient Length of Stay: A Systematic Review by Thungjaroenkul, P., Cummings, G. & Embleton, A. (2007).
Quantitative Table 3: Impact of Nurse Staffing on Patient Length of Stay
Narrative
In Table 2, ten studies indicated that there is a relationship between staffing of nurses and costs while two of them did not show any significant correlation. The researchers found three studies that showed that higher registered nurse to patient ratio, reduced hospital costs while one study recommended for a cost reduction by increasing the number of highly skilled registered nurses. Two studies did not indicate any significant correlation between skill mix and cost when costs were estimated using total hospital expenditure. Other two studies advised for cost reduction by increasing RN hours. However, there were conflicting outcomes when total hospital spending and the nursing, personal budget were used as pointers of costs. As Curtin (2003) posits nursing staffing affects patient outcomes. The staffing is determined by the quality of their skills and the patients nursing staff ratio.
The article meets the standards of a quality research process because it relies on different sources of data for its results.
References
Curtin, L. L. (2003). An Integrated Analysis of Nurse Staffing and Related Variables: Effects on Patient Outcomes. Nursing world , 8 (3).
Leitz, S. (2007). The Health Care Cost Growth Drivers and Implications for States. Wisconsin Family Impact , 1 - 12.
Thungjaroenkul, P., Cummings, G. G., & Embleton, A. (2007). The Impact of Nurse Staffing on Hospital Costs and Patient Length of Stay: A Systematic Review. Lgislations and Politics, 255-265.
