Nurses play a critical role in ensuring patient safety. This study explored the association between the organization of nursing services and patient safety incidents in rehabilitation units. Findings highlight the key role of appropriate nurse staffing in reducing the incidence of events such as falls and medication errors

This economic analysis estimated the impact of nurse-sensitive adverse events—including pressure ulcers, falls, medication administration errors, pneumonia, and urinary tract infection—for the Canadian health care system. The authors estimate that these adverse events led to more than 1300 excess hospital days per year, and they advocate for more resources for adverse event prevention in order to reduce costs as well as harm.

Accurately detecting safety events remains challenging, and health care organizations are still struggling to determine the incidence of adverse outcomes associated with nursing care. This study used chart reviews to identify the rates of six adverse events considered to be directly related to nursing care: pressure sores, falls, medication administration errors, pneumonia, urinary infections, and inappropriate use of restraints. One in seven hospitalized adults experienced at least one of these adverse events.

Nursing care models in which registered nurses provided a higher proportion of direct care were associated with fewer patient safety incidents.