The Mediating Role of Missed Care in the Association Between Nurse Staffing and Patient Readmissions Across U.S. Hospitals.

IF 3 Q2 HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES

Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice Pub Date : 2026-02-01 Epub Date: 2025-10-22 DOI:10.1177/15271544251385941

Kathryn A Connell, Hyunmin Yu, Eileen T Lake

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Abstract

Nurse staffing and missed nursing care are associated with patient readmissions. However, the mediating role of missed care in this relationship is not well understood. This retrospective study investigated the potential mediating effect of missed care on the relationship between nurse staffing and patient readmissions across 573 U.S. hospitals. Mediation analyses examined whether, and to what extent, missed care explains the relationship between nurse staffing and patient readmissions. Nurse staffing was associated with patient readmissions both directly and indirectly through missed care, which accounted for 10% of the total association. These findings suggest that missed care is an important pathway through which nurse staffing affects readmission rates. Addressing inadequate nurse staffing and reducing missed care are essential strategies for lowering readmissions. The findings have important implications for developing evidence-based interventions and informing policy to improve the quality of care in healthcare institutions.

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错过护理在美国医院护士人员配置和病人再入院之间的中介作用。

护士人员配置和护理遗漏与患者再入院有关。然而，错过护理在这种关系中的中介作用尚未得到很好的理解。本回顾性研究调查了遗漏护理在573家美国医院护士人员配置和患者再入院之间关系中的潜在中介作用。中介分析检验了错过护理是否以及在多大程度上解释了护士配备和患者再入院之间的关系。护士人员配置直接或间接地与患者再入院相关，这占总关联的10%。这些发现表明，错过护理是护士人员配置影响再入院率的重要途径。解决护士人手不足和减少错过的护理是降低再入院率的基本策略。研究结果对制定基于证据的干预措施和告知政策以提高医疗保健机构的护理质量具有重要意义。

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来源期刊

Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice Nursing-Leadership and Management

CiteScore

3.30

自引率

5.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal that explores the multiple relationships between nursing and health policy. It serves as a major source of data-based study, policy analysis and discussion on timely, relevant policy issues for nurses in a broad variety of roles and settings, and for others outside of nursing who are interested in nursing-related policy issues.