Table 3.

Nurse Outcomes and Nurse-Reported Patient Outcomes, by the Proportion of Nonpermanent Nurses in Hospitals^*

	Proportion of Supplemental/Float nurses
	<5%	5%–15%	>15%	P value
Nurse outcomes
Dissatisfied with job	41.12^a	40.27^a	46.08^c	.001
Plans to leave within 1 y	19.68^a	22.96^b	29.70^c	<.001
High burnout	44.42^a	42.23^b	47.95^c	<.001
Nurse-reported patient outcomes
Wrong medication	16.08^a	15.42^a	15.05^a	.601
Nosocomial infection	32.27^a	35.71^b	34.29^a,b	.002
Complaints from patients/families	48.28^a	49.04^a	51.32^a	.197
Patient falls	21.60^a	19.60^b	22.43^a	.01
Work-related injury	32.27^a	32.93^a	37.06^c	.008
Verbal abuse directed toward nurses	54.48^a	51.58^b	55.58^a	.002

P values reflect the significance of the difference in percentages across the 3 supplemental/float nurse categories generally. Percentages in the same rows that share the same letter are not significantly different at P <.05.

Authors’ analysis of data from the 1999 Pennsylvania Hospital Outcomes Study.