Higher nurse workloads due to inadequate staffing have a direct impact on patient outcomes after surgery, a new study has found. The large-scale study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing showed that higher nurse workloads negatively impacted all patients, but interestingly, older black patients were three times more likely than older white patients to suffer poorer outcomes after surgery, including death. Over a 5:1 patient-to-nurse ration, the odds of patient death increased by 3 percent per additional… Continue reading →