Nurse staffing matters: first findings from RN4CAST study

The first findings from research addressing the associations between nurse staffing and patient safety and quality of care were presented at a Nightingale Seminar on Wednesday 25 May.

RN4cast is the largest ever research study to explore the associations between nurse staffing and patient outcomes. RN4CAST is a consortium of 15 partners in 11 European countries - Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK - and three partners outside Europe - China, South Africa, and Botswana - provide additional perspectives.

The England study co-directors Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, Head of the School, and Professor Peter Griffiths, Chair of Health Services Research, University of Southampton (formerly Director of the NNRU), with Dr Jane Ball, Deputy Director of the NNRU, presented findings from the nurse survey that explore the relationship between staffing variables and measures of patient safety and quality of care.

The project is coordinated by the Centre for Health Services & Nursing Research at the Catholic University Leuven. University of Pennsylvania, USA, will contribute specialized research expertise derived from previous international research. The National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU), based at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, has coordinated the collection of outcome data and the dissemination of the project.

Visit the RN4CAST web page for more information.