Hospital nurse staffing and patient outcomes in Chile: a multilevel cross-sectional study.

Background: Unrest in Chile over inequalities has underscored the need to improve public hospitals. Nursing has been overlooked as a solution to quality and access concerns, and nurse staffing is poor by international standards. Using Chile's new diagnosis-related groups system and surveys of nurses and patients, we provide information to policy makers on feasibility, net costs, and estimated improved outcomes associated with increasing nursing resources in public hospitals.

[Nurse staffing, skill mix and job outcomes in Chilean public hospitals].

Background: International evidence shows that there are organizational factors and nurse job outcomes that may negatively affect healthcare quality.

Aim: To measure and analyze associations between nurse organizational factors, such as staffing ratios and skill mix, and job outcomes in public hospitals in Chile.

Material And Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study of 1,855 registered nurses working in medical-surgical units in 37 public hospitals was conducted.