Journal of advanced nursing
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Review Meta Analysis
Nurse staffing levels and hospital mortality in critical care settings: literature review and meta-analysis.
This paper reports a review of the literature on the association between critical care nurse staffing levels and patient mortality. ⋯ The impact of nurse staffing levels on patients' hospital mortality in critical care settings was not evident in the reviewed studies. Methodological challenges that might have impeded correct assessment of the association include measurement problems in exposure status and confounding factors, often uncontrolled. The lack of association also indicates that hospital mortality may not be sensitive enough to detect the consequences of low nurse staffing levels in critical care settings.