Surgery is a scary prospect, but it’s made even scarier by this new study.
Experts have discovered that hundreds of surgery patients die every year after their emergency procedures, simply because there aren’t enough nurses on staff.
Experts performed a five year investigation across 156 hospitals in the UK, and analyzed the chance of dying across 30 days after being admitted for emergency surgery.
When all the data was looked at, it was found that the worst survival records were from hopsitals that were the most understaffed.
In fact, there was a 7 percent difference in hospital survival rates based only on staff.
The study was published in the British Journal of Anesthesia, and it looked at almost 300,000 patient records.
They found that 14 hospitals had death rates that were significantly higher than expected, while at nine hospitals, they were significantly lower.
When they looked at what tied them together, it was pretty telling. They found that the hospitals with the best survival rates had a whopping 24 percent more nurses than those with the worst survival rates.
Study author Professor Mike Grocott from the University of Southampton said, “Our study has identified a striking association between staffing levels, clinical experience, and patient outcomes.
“Although we have not demonstrated causation, we believe the findings should form an important part of the debate over disparities in staffing levels and resource provision.”
Janet Davies from the Royal College of Nursing said, “Poor staffing levels have a serious impact on patient care.”
Clare Marx, from the Royal College of Surgeons, said “It is wholly unacceptable that death rates vary so significantly for the sickest patients across the country. This has to become one of the top priorities.”
Hopefully, it will be more of a priority very soon.
