Relation between Nurses- Patients Ratio and Nursing Outcomes at Intensive Care Units

Background: Better nurses- patients staffing ratio helps to improve nurses' attitudes towardtheir job and prevent adverse nursing outcomes and promote nurses' health and well-beingwhich enhance them to deliver high quality patient care. Aim: Assess the relation betweennurses - patients ratio and nursing outcomes at Intensive Care Units. Design: A descriptivecorrelation design was used. Setting: Intensive Care Units at Tanta University Main andEmergency Hospitals. Subject: All nurses (N=476) who were working at both hospitals.Tools: Data were collected by using two tools: Nurses- patients ratio and Nursing OutcomesStructured Questionnaire. Results: The average daily nurse to patient ratio in three shiftsaccording to unit specialty was 2.10± 0.59, 87.4% of intensive care nurses had unsatisfactorylevel of job satisfaction, 81.7% had a low level of burnout and 54.0% of had a low level ofoverall intention to leave. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant negativecorrelation between overall job satisfaction and the average daily Intensive Care nurses-patients ratio in three shifts, While, there were statistically significant positive correlationbetween overall IC nurses' burnout and intention to leave and the average daily nurses-patients ratio in three shifts. Recommendations: Hospital administration need to create ICpolicies and guidelines for safely nurses' ratio and staffing, Hospital /unit managers shouldoffer flexible scheduling options to accommodate the needs of nurses, such as part-time orremote work arrangements