Nursing staffing and resident outcomes in nursing homes: weight loss and dehydration.

A secondary analysis of the Minimum Data Set and Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting databases was used to examine the relationships between nursing staffing and the nursing home resident outcomes of weight loss and dehydration. If a facility had 3 or more hours of nursing assistant time versus those that had less than 3 hours, there was an associated odds ratio of 0.83 (P = .0078). Nursing assistant staffing affected the quality outcome of weight loss. Residents receiving at least 3 hours per day of nursing assistant care had a 17% decreased likelihood of weight loss.