Reduce hospital-acquired infections with adequate staffing

Having appropriate levels of hospital staff during a given shift can help reduce the spread of healthcare-associated infections. Having more staff on a hospital floor—particularly nurses— allows healthcare staff to spend more time with each patient and to follow infection control measures more meticulously.

Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are a serious problem in hospitals throughout the United States. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that American hospitals expose 1.7 million patients annually to HAIs while they are treated for other health issues. Moreover, more than 98,000 of these patients (one in 17) die due to hospital-acquired infections.

These puzzling statistics are calling for hospitals throughout the country to take dramatic action to improve infection control measures. One major way hospitals can confront HAIs is through adequate staffing.

A hospital-acquired infection is a grave but preventable complication. By prioritizing safe and sustainable staffing levels, hospitals can address these complications in the five following ways:

1. Lower nosocomial infection rates

Various studies show that adequate staffing is directly correlated to the reduction of nosocomial hospital-acquired infections.

What is a nosocomial infection hospital-acquired?

A nosocomial infection is also known as a hospital-acquired infection (HAI). This type of infection is an infection that may already be present in a person’s body or in an incubation period at the time of admission to a hospital. HAIs can cause acute sickness and morbidity. Some of the most common types of HAIs are:

Site infections from surgical procedures
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
Central line-associated bloodstream infections
Hospital-acquired pneumonia, including ventilator-associated pneumonia
Central line-associated bloodstream infections
E-Coli
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)

These HAIs can cause devastating complications for patients, prolonging hospital stays. Consequently, hospitals with scarce staffing levels can lead to lower patient safety standards, such as less sanitized environments. In addition, healthcare costs inflate due to longer patient stays and increased need for medications.

In some cases, patients can take legal action after acquiring an HAI. Medical lawsuits can be expensive and time-consuming, resulting in an exorbitant amount of dollars spent on payouts.

The verdict? Fewer infections occur in hospitals where registered nurses (RNs) care for fewer patients. This makes adequate staffing for patient census essential for HAI prevention.

2. Improved training for infection prevention

A well-staffed hospital allows for better infection prevention training. This is because having a larger pool of healthcare workers ensures there are more trained professionals available to follow and adhere to infection prevention protocols.

Hospitals often hire infection preventionists (IPs) to implement and oversee infection programs (IPCs). According to the World Health Organization, there are eight key components that acute healthcare facilities should have in place to prevent hospital-acquired infections.

Standard precautions and practices included in infection program training may consist of the following:

Hand hygiene
Respiratory and cough hygiene
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Aseptic techniques (using sterile equipment or wearing medical-grade gloves)
Prevention of needle-stick and sharps injury
Appropriate management of blood and body fluid leakage
Proper cleaning and disinfection
Designated and appropriate waste disposal

Patient safety in hospitals involves consistent training regarding infection control procedures. Having adequate nurse staffing can help hospitals monitor how effective IPC programs are. This allows hospitals to audit, modify, or train as needed.

Long-term benefits of IPC programs can reduce healthcare costs, improve patient care, and lead to better working conditions for clinicians.

3. Better bedside care

To reduce hospital-acquired infections, hospitals can staff more nurses for better bedside care. Facilities with adequate staffing will ensure appropriate nurse-to-patient levels at all times. When nurses have fewer patients, their patients will receive high-quality care, such as close monitoring and observation. Research shows that lower staffing ratios improve patient outcomes.

Nurses who work in intensive care units can particularly benefit from adequate hospital staffing. This is because ICU nurses often deal with critically ill patients, which makes appropriate patient-nurse ratios even more important.

On the other hand, inadequate staffing often leads to extended emergency department care times and delayed care. In addition, insufficient nurse staffing can result in a higher number of patients who leave with poor care experiences or even without treatment at all. These factors can contribute to an increased number of HAIs.

Facilities can achieve better patient care through staffing on-demand apps like Nursa. Nursa helps put the right nurse at the right time at the bedside for every patient in need. However, it is not a staffing agency. Rather, Nursa is a healthcare staffing app that makes it easier for facilities to find last-minute coverage.

4. Improved staff accountability

Adequately staffed hospitals will have better oversight, accountability, and supervision. Onboarding and mentoring new staff and nursing students in the study period phase of their education can ensure familiarity with infection prevention control measures. Supervisors and veteran staff can oversee new staff members in real time, offering guidance on hospital IPC protocols.

Sufficient nurse staffing also ensures that staff members have a manageable workload so they can fill out shift nurse reports calmly and properly. This can help establish clear expectations on which patients are infectious and what each nurse is in charge of.

For example, one nurse may be responsible for administering medications, while another nurse may be in charge of collecting samples for labs. Staff members who have clearly defined roles and responsibilities can lead to better staff accountability. This can help prevent the spread of HAIs.

5. Less burnout and fatigue

Burnout and fatigue among nurses can lead to medical mistakes and mishaps. Not only is this a threat to patient safety, but it can also endanger the nursing staff as a whole.

Studies show that burnout in hospitals can increase infections, such as urinary and surgical site infections. The solution to this is making sure that hospitals equip enough staff to share the workload evenly among healthcare workers.

Contracting per diem staff to fill in for permanent staff relieves burnout by ensuring nurse staff can use their paid time off (vacation and sick time).

On-demand staffing—a growing strategy for reducing the spread of HAIs

Inadequate staffing can lead to grave consequences. Some of these consequences include decreased patient safety, staff burnout, and increased spread of hospital-acquired infections.

Projections show that the nursing crisis—resulting in understaffed hospitals—is likely to persist for years. On-demand per diem staffing offers facilities a silver lining.

Sourcing per diem nurses helps facilities fill vacant shifts without last-minute scrambling. Per diem staff provides hospitals with the flexibility to adjust staff ratios depending on factors such as seasonal demands.

This can help fewer HAIs, leading to a healthier and more efficient healthcare system.

Enter Nursa, a healthcare staffing marketplace designed to help facilities get reliable nurses to their patients’ bedsides at more affordable costs.

Nursa makes it easy for healthcare facilities and hospitals to quickly post shifts, review candidates, and schedule qualified nurses looking to provide high-quality care. Nursa doesn’t require any contracts or minimum usage, so facilities can sign up for free—you only pay when a clinician finishes a shift at your facility.

Is your facility looking to hire per-diem nurses to meet raising patient census or cover staffing shortages? Sign up for Nursa to connect with local clinicians and solve your staffing needs.

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