Nurse-sensitive quality indicators: A multicenter analysis

Background/Purpose: The quality of nursing care is strongly related to patient safety and satisfaction. Although previous studies have reported various nurse-sensitive quality indicators, a gap still exists for some countries such as Türkiye regarding the definition and determination of the nurse-sensitive indicators, selecting the appropriate monitoring tools, the results, and using the results to enhance nursing practice. This study aimed to evaluate nurse-sensitive quality indicators and to explore the association between these indicators and nurse-staffing characteristics. Methods: This multicenter retrospective study presents data from 528 hospital-month units by investigating digital nursing reports across 15 hospitals in Turkey. Variables related to nurse staffing and nurse-sensitive quality indicators, including falls, thrombophlebitis, pressure ulcers, and patient satisfaction, were examined with descriptive analysis. Results: This study reveals that during the months with documented falls there were more patients and longer hospital stays but lower patient satisfaction. Conversely, during the months without thrombophlebitis, there were more nurses with higher education levels and higher patient satisfaction. Increased incidence of patients with thrombophlebitis was correlated with higher nurse-to-patient ratios. During the months with documented pressure ulcers, there were more patients and longer hospital stays. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that certain nurse-sensitive quality indicators such as falls, pressure ulcers, and thrombophlebitis are associated with the profile of the nurse workforce.