Table 5.
Association odds ratios indicating the effects of using high percentages (>25%) of non-US educated nurses on mortality and failure-to-rescue at various hospital staffing levels
| Hospital staffing level (patients per nurse) | 30-day surgical mortality (n = 1 295 179) |
30-day failure-to-rescue (n = 460 722) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odds ratio | 95% CI | P-value | Odds ratio | 95% CI | P-value | |
| 3 patients:nurse | 0.93 | (0.80, 1.08) | 0.33 | 0.92 | (0.79, 1.07) | 0.27 |
| 4 patients:nurse | 1.01 | (0.92, 1.11) | 0.83 | 1.00 | (0.91, 1.11) | 0.93 |
| 5 patients:nurse | 1.10 | (1.02, 1.18) | 0.01 | 1.10 | (1.02, 1.19) | 0.01 |
| 6 patients:nurse | 1.20 | (1.09, 1.31) | <0.01 | 1.21 | (1.09, 1.34) | <0.01 |
| 7 patients:nurse | 1.30 | (1.13, 1.49) | <0.01 | 1.32 | (1.12, 1.56) | <0.01 |
Odds ratios compare surgical mortality for hospitals with a high proportion of non-US-educated nurses (>25%) to all other hospitals in the sample. All regressions were adjusted for nurse (practice environment, percent with BSN education, proportion of nurses in ICU and proportion of nurses in medical-surgical unit) and hospital characteristics (bed size, teaching status and technology status) and dummy variables for state.