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Nursing skill mix in acute mental health in-patient environments. Jane Sayer, Programme Director (Nursing Excellence) Richard M Jones, Specialist Nurse Researcher. Why is skill mix important?. Current financial climate
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Nursing skill mix in acute mental health in-patient environments Jane Sayer, Programme Director (Nursing Excellence) Richard M Jones, Specialist Nurse Researcher
Why is skill mix important? • Current financial climate • 1 in 10 patients report that there were rarely or never enough nurses available on in-patient units (CQC, 2010) • Positive effect on outcome supported by evidence
MHMDS report on 2010 • 5.1% increase in use of inpatient facilities (8.5% of total MH users) • 30.1% rise in number of people detained under MHA (lower level of 17.5% possible) • Number of voluntary patients falling for 4 years • Number of women detained via courts or prison saw an 85% rise last year • NHS mental hospitals are increasingly being used to care for and contain people who pose a risk to themselves or others (MHMDS, 2010, Bowers & Flood 2008)
The effect on outcomes • 26% higher mortality in hospitals with poorer nursing levels • Higher burnout rates • Twice as likely to be dissatisfied in their job • More likely to report low/ deteriorating quality of care on their wards • Rafferty 2007 • MH environments: higher staffing levels = lower re-admission rates. Substantially better outcomes achieved when attention patients received from staff was taken into account • Coleman & Paul 2001 • 9% of suicides could have been prevented by increasing staff numbers and 6% by increasing beds and services • Appleby et al 2006
The cost of in-patient care • Fivefold cost variance between UK MH trusts (£4.3 to £24.6 million) • Associations between nursing cost per bed and performance indicators were found • Bowers & Flood 2008 • Conflict and containment in in-patient mental health settings in England estimated at £178.5 million per year • Flood et al 2008
‘whilst low registered nurse staffing levels should be considered a risk factor for poor quality care, increasing nurse staffing may not be a sufficient solution’ NNRU (2009)
Addressing grades • RN- LPN- HCA- NA • Higher levels of RN= lower rates of adverse outcomes • Needleman el at (2002) • Higher RN levels = less likely to die in hospital. Higher levels of LPN more likely to die • Person et al (2004) • Violence associated with discrepancy between acuity and available staff • Higher skill mix and BSc qualified nurses associated with fewer incidents of violence • Roche et al (2010)
Higher LPN investment = more pressure ulcers, and wage saving more than offset by additional treatment costs • Hendrix and Foreman (2001) • Mental health environments in the UK are mostly staffed by the most junior, least qualified workforce, yet they care for the most acutely (and increasingly so) unwell patients
Needleman (2006) 3 options • Increase proportion of RN hours but not total nursing hours • Increase total number of hours of RNS and LPNs without changing proportion • Increase proportion of RN hours and total number of nursing hours of both groups
References. • Appleby, L. Shaw, J. and Kapur, N. (2006) Avoidable deaths: five year report of the national confidential inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness. University of Manchester. • Bowers, l. and Flood, C. (2008) Nurse staffing, bed numbers and the cost of acute psychiatric care in England. Journal of Psychiatric and mental health nursing. 15 630-637. • Coleman, J.C and Paul, G.L (2001) Relationship between staffing ratios and effectiveness of inpatient units. Psychiatric Services. 52, 1374-1379. • CQC (2010) Supporting briefing note: issues highlighted by the 2009 survey of patients in NHS hospitals in England. • Flood, C. Bowers, L. Parkin, D. (2008) Estimating the costs of conflict and containment on adult inpatient psychiatric wards. Nursing Economics. 26, (5). • Hendrix, t. and Foreman, s. (2001) Optimal long term care nurse staffing levels. Nursing economics. 19 (4) 164-175. • MHMDS (2010) the information centre for health and social care. In-patients formally detained in hospital under the MHA 1983 and patients subject to SCT. Annual figure. England 09/10- October 2010. • Needleman, J. et al (2002). Nurse staffing levels and the quality of care in hospitals. New England Journal of medicine. 346 (22) 1715-1722. • Needleman, J. (2006) Nurse staffing in hospital: is there a business case for quality? Health affairs. 25 (1) 204-211. • Person, S. et al (2004). Nurse staffing and mortality for medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction. Medical care 42 (1) 4-12. • Policy+ (2009) Is there a case for the UK nursing workforce to include grades of qualified nurse other than the registered nurse? (21) October. • Rafferty, AM. Et al (2007) Outcomes of variation in hospital nurse staffing in English hospitals: cross sectional analysis of survey data and discharge records. Int. Journal of Nursing studies, 44 (2) 175-182. • Roche et al (2010) Violence toward nurses, the work environment, and patient outcomes. The Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 42 (1) 13-22
Average staffing and patient data- NHS wards by speciality (all shifts), (RCN 2009)