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Nursing Care and Safety |
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A study of Canadian hospitals found that nursing care models that emphasize direct care by registered nurses are associated with fewer adverse events. Researchers examined nursing care in 22 hospitals and categorized them in two models, professional and functional. Professional models employ more nurses with higher formal education, support professional governance and have a higher proportion of care hours provided by RNs. The functional model regards nursing as a broad set of tasks that can be accomplished by a variety of workers, techs and LPNs. Adverse events that included medication errors, falls, and urinary tract infections were up to 52% lower in the hospitals with the professional nursing models. |
