Reader Remarks on:

Low Nurse Staffing Ratios, Patient Safety, and Nurse Burnout

What's going to be done about it?

What's going to be done about it?

Cheryl Cobbler, 25 Sep 2010 7:59 PM EST

Competing interests: None declared

I've seen numerous studies about patient to nurse ratios and the outcome is always the same. High ratios are bad. But what is being done about it. We clearly need additional new nursing staff. That will almost certainly stave off the burnout and more importantly save lives. I saw an article on http://www.nursingburnout.net that talked about how these 12-hour shifts have been a huge deterrent for retaining nurses. Unfortunately, this further contributes to the staff shortage and subsequently burnout in the nurses who are required to cover additional shifts. Its a huge problem and the patients are bearing the brunt of it.

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