New Study Examines Link Between Nurse Burnout and Care

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (INQRI's home) examined the relationship between nurse-burnout and potential harm to patients. The study, which was published on Monday in the American Journal of Infection Control, utilized 2006 infection data linked with two separate surveys examining hospital work environments and nurse burnout. The research team found that by adding a single patient to a nurse's workload, there was an increase of nearly one infection per 1,000 patient. Additionally, the authors also found that a 10 percent increase in a hospital's proportion of burned-out nurses raised urinary tract infections about the same amount but surgical site infections more than 50 percent, from 4.2 per 1,000 patients to more than six.

To read more about the study, click here.

To read the research article, click here (subscription required).