A panel of acute-care general hospitals in Florida was studied to investigate the connection between hospital expenditures on continuing nurse education and staffing and improved nurse-sensitive, patient-safety outcomes from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Outcomes included advanced-stage pressure injuries/ulcers, central venous catheter-related bloodstream infection and deep vein thrombosis. The samples included a balanced panel of 150 acute-care hospitals for pressure ulcer and catheter-related blood stream infection and 143 facilities for deep vein thrombosis. The authors associated a one standard deviation increase in nursing education-policy interaction with a 16.6% reduced rate of catheter-related bloodstream infection and a nearly 5% reduced rate of deep vein thrombosis. A one standard deviation increase in staffing per 1,000 inpatient days was also linked to a 68.5% reduction in pressure-ulcer rates, with 31.4% derived from direct staff and 37.1% from policy-staffing interaction. Based on the results, the authors suggest "there are tradeoffs between funding continuing education and training of existing staff and expanding staff to achieve patient safety objectives."

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