Simpson Kathleen Rice, Lyndon Audrey, Wilson Jane, Ruhl Catherine
Labor and Delivery, Mercy Hospital, 7140 Pershing Avenue, St. Louis, MO-63130, USA.
J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2012 Jul-Aug;41(4):474-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1552-6909.2012.01383.x. Epub 2012 Jun 12.
To solicit input from registered nurse members of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) on critical considerations for review and revision of existing nurse staffing guidelines.
Thematic analysis of responses to a cross-sectional on-line survey question: "Please give the staffing task force your input on what they should consider in the development of recommendations for staffing of perinatal units."
Members of AWHONN (N = 884).
Descriptions of staffing concerns that should be considered when evaluating and revising existing perinatal nurse staffing guidelines. Consistent themes identified included the need for revision of nurse staffing guidelines due to requirements for safe care, increases in patient acuity and complexity, invisibility of the fetus and newborn as separate and distinct patients, difficulties in providing comprehensive care during labor and for mother-baby couplets under current conditions, challenges in staffing small volume units, and the negative effect of inadequate staffing on nurse satisfaction and retention.
Participants overwhelmingly indicated current nurse staffing guidelines were inadequate to meet the needs of contemporary perinatal clinical practice and required revision based on significant changes that had occurred since 1983 when the original staffing guidelines were published.
征求妇女健康、产科和新生儿护士协会（AWHONN）注册护士成员对审查和修订现有护士人员配备指南的关键考虑因素的意见。
对横断面在线调查问题的回答进行主题分析：“请就围产期病房人员配备建议制定过程中应考虑的因素向人员配备工作组提供您的意见。”
AWHONN成员（N = 884）。
在评估和修订现有围产期护士人员配备指南时应考虑的人员配备问题描述。确定的一致主题包括：由于安全护理要求、患者病情严重程度和复杂性增加、胎儿和新生儿作为单独且不同患者的不可见性、在当前情况下分娩期间以及母婴对提供全面护理的困难、小容量病房人员配备的挑战以及人员配备不足对护士满意度和留用率的负面影响，需要修订护士人员配备指南。
参与者压倒性地表示，当前的护士人员配备指南不足以满足当代围产期临床实践的需求，并且由于自1983年发布原始人员配备指南以来发生的重大变化而需要修订。
