The Economic Value of Professional Nursing

Abstract

Background: Improved understanding of the economic value of registered nurse services can help inform staffing decisions and policies.

Objectives: To quantify the economic value of professional nursing.

Methods: We synthesize findings from the literature on the relationship between registered nurse staffing levels and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes in acute care hospitals. Using hospital discharge data to estimate incidence and cost of these patient outcomes together with productivity measures, we estimate the economic implications of changes in registered nurse staffing levels.