Table 1 The nurse-sensitive patient outcomes, explanatory nursing factors and potential confounding variables

Nurse-sensitive patient outcomes

 Pressure ulcers (hospital acquired)

Patient

 Falls (inpatient falls)

Patient

 Falls with injury

Patient

 Restraints

Patient

 Urinary catheter-associated urinary tract infection

Patient

 Central line catheter-associated blood stream infection

Patient

Explanatory nursing factors

 Education composition of registered nurses: the proportion of registered nurses educated to baccalaureate level or higher upon entry to the profession

Ward

  Registered nurses staffing level: full-time equivalent employment

Ward

  Practice environment:

Ward

   Nurse participation in hospital affairs (mean subscale score)

   Staffing and resource adequacy (mean subscale score)

   Nursing foundations for quality of care (mean subscale score)

   Nurse manager ability, leadership, and support of nurses (mean subscale score)

   Collegial nurse-physician relations (mean subscale score)

Potential confounding variables

 Patients’ characteristics: age, sex, diagnosis, comorbidities, level of surgical invasiveness, mortality, length of stay and type of admission.

Patient

 Characteristics of the wards and patient turnover: types of wards, number of beds, patient bed-days and patient turnover for each shift and patient days

Ward

 Characteristics of the hospitals: type of hospital, number of beds, teaching status, region, and technology.

Hospital