Summary of Clinical Issue: Inappropriate staffing in the nursing environment is a severe problem that leads to several negative consequences.
PICOT Question: What is the influence of inappropriate staffing compared to professional recruitment in nursing departments?
| Criteria | Article 1 | Article 2 | Article 3 |
| APA-Formatted Article Citation with Permalink | A Review Exploring the Relationship Between Nursing Home Staffing and Antipsychotic Medication Use | Why Nurse Staffing Matters: A Moral Imperative | Influence of Nurse Staffing Levels on Resident Weight Loss Within German Nursing Homes |
| How Does the Article Relate to the PICOT Question? | The article aims at understanding the relationship between the accuracy of nurse staffing and the appropriateness of antipsychotic prescribing. | The article explains the reasons why nurse staffing is essential | The article discusses one of the influences of nurse staffing. |
| Quantitative, Qualitative (How do you know?) | The article is qualitative since it analyzes data that already exists and makes a conclusion about it. | The article is qualitative since it summarizes the available information and calls the readers to action. | The article is quantitative since it focused on collecting data from specific nursing facilities. |
| Purpose Statement | To discover the relation between AP and nurse staffing. | Encourage professionals to take action to deal with the problem of inappropriate staffing. | Explore the differences between the levels of nurse staffing and care results in nursing homes. |
| Research Question | Is the use of AP’ in nursing homes as chemical restraints appropriate? | How to improve the process of making staffing decisions in nursing departments? | What is the relationship between nurse staffing levels and care outcomes? |
| Outcome | The article proves a strong correlation between nurse staffing and the prevalence of AP use. | The healthcare industry will be able to decrease the number of deaths in hospitals after establishing an effective procedure for staffing. | The Resident’s weight loss is associated with nurse staffing levels. |
| Setting (Where did the study take place?) | N/A since it is a qualitative article. | N/A | German nursing homes. |
| Sample | N/A | N/A | 8,655 residents. |
| Method | Collection and analysis of existent data. | Qualitative exploratory design | Weight loss assessment. |
| Key Findings of the Study | As staffing levels decrease, AP drug use increases. | Nurse staffing is linked to patient satisfaction, a new system of staffing should be implemented. | Facilities without individuals’ weight loss have more staff and fewer residents. |
| Recommendations of the Researcher | More studies have to be conducted to identify the cause-and-effect relationship between the variables. | Nurse executives and managers should take action since indifference cannot be justified. | More research has to be conducted to identify factors that lead to weight loss. |
| Criteria | Article 4 | Article 5 | Article 6 |
| APA-Formatted Article Citation with Permalink | Nurse Staffing, Nurses Prioritization, Missed Care, Quality of Nursing Care, and Nurse Outcomes | Nurse Staffing, Medical Staffing and Mortality in Intensive Care: An Observational Study | On the Threshold of Safety: A Qualitative Exploration of Nurses’ Perceptions of Factors Involved in Safe Staffing Levels in Emergency Departments |
| How Does the Article Relate to the PICOT Question? | The article discovers the relationship between nurse staffing and treatment outcomes. | The article discusses whether nurse staffing levels have an impact on the survival of critical patients. | The study discusses nurses’ perceptions of safe staffing. |
| Quantitative, Qualitative (How do you know?) | The article is quantitative since it analyzes a specific survey conducted in 2015. | The article is quantitative since it analyzes the collected research data. | The article is qualitative since it collects and analyzes qualitative data. |
| Purpose Statement | To examine the correlation between staffing, prioritization of nursing practices, the quality of care, and care results. | To identify if the size of the workforce influences the survival rate of patients. | To explore emergency specialists’ opinions about factors involved in safe staffing. |
| Research Question | What is the cause and effect relationship between the variables? | Are the survival changes of critical patients impacted by some nurses and doctors? | What is the nurses’ evaluation of staffing in emergency departments? |
| Outcome | Appropriate staffing is needed for high-quality care. | The availability of staff is related to higher survival rates. | Staffing is unsafe because of negative patient outcomes. |
| Setting (Where did the study take place?) | 156 surgical and medical units of 49 general hospitals | 65 intensive care units. | N/A |
| Sample | 2114 nurses | 38,168 patients. | N/A |
| Method | Measuring results based on the survey regarding misses nursing activities. | Multilevel logistic regression. | Qualitative exploratory design |
| Key Findings of the Study | Poor staffing causes missed nursing activities, which leads to low-quality care and poor job satisfaction. | Nurses have the biggest impact on patient’s treatment outcomes, a higher number of nurses is related to higher survival chances. | The quality and size of staffing are determined by the number of patients waiting to receive care. |
| Recommendations of the Researcher | Promote adequate staffing. | More studies have to be conducted regarding staffing levels and appropriate organization of care. | An overall number of nurses, skills, and experiences should be considered when increasing staff levels. |