The Association between the Mental Health Nurse-to-Registered Nurse Ratio and Patient Outcomes in Psychiatric Inpatient Wards: A Systematic Review

Nompilo Moyo,Sue Gilbert,Richard Gray,Lorena Romero,Sandesh Pantha,Martin Jones,Diana Kushemererwa

doi:10.3390/ijerph17186890

Abstract

Nursing skill mix in inpatient mental health wards varies considerably between countries. Some countries have an all-registered mental health nurse workforce; others have a mix of registered mental health and registered nurses. Understanding the optimal nursing skill mix in mental health inpatient units would inform service planning. This report aims to examine the association between the registered mental health nurse-to-registered nurse ratio and psychiatric readmission (or referral to community crisis services) in adult mental health inpatients. A systematic review was performed. We searched key databases for observational and experimental studies. Two researchers completed title-and-abstract and full-text screening. Our search identified 7956 citations. A full-text review of four papers was undertaken. No studies met our inclusion criteria. We report an empty review. Despite the obvious importance of the research question for the safe staffing of inpatient mental health services, there are no studies that have tested this association.

Highlights

There have been at least 21 observational studies that have tested the association between the educational preparation of nurses and patient outcomes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]
As far as we can determine, the first study to test the association between nursing skill mix and patient outcomes was reported in 1976 [22]
Part One was published in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing [50]

Summary

Introduction

There have been at least 21 observational studies that have tested the association between the educational preparation of nurses and patient outcomes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21] Half of these studies have focused on surgical patients only. As far as we can determine, the first study to test the association between nursing skill mix and patient outcomes was reported in 1976 [22]. Studies have generally reported a significant association between a more highly educated nursing workforce and a lower risk of mortality [12,15,16]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion