Kleinpell Ruth, Ward Nicholas S, Kelso Lynn A, Mollenkopf Fred P, Houghton Douglas
Ruth Kleinpell is director, Center for Clinical Research and Scholarship, Rush University Medical Center; professor, Rush University College of Nursing; and acute care nurse practitioner, Rush Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. Nicholas S. Ward is an intensivist at Rhode Island Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Lynn A. Kelso is an assistant professor, University of Kentucky College of Nursing, and an acute care nurse practitioner, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. Fred P. Mollenkopf, Jr is a physician assistant, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Institute, Lansing, Michigan. Douglas Houghton is an acute care nurse practitioner in the trauma intensive care unit, Jackson Health System, Miami Florida.
Am J Crit Care. 2015 May;24(3):e16-21. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2015274.
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are being increasingly integrated into intensive care unit and hospital-based care teams, yet limited information is available on provider to patient ratios.
To determine current provider to patient ratios for nurse practitioners and physician assistants working in intensive and acute care units and to assess factors that affect the ratios.
A descriptive study design was used with a Web-based survey of members of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Academy of Physician Assistants, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Responses were received from 222 nurse practitioners and 211 physician assistants from all but 8 of the 50 United States and from Canada. Mean provider to patient ratios in intensive care were 1 to 5 (range, 1 to 3 - 1 to 8). In pediatric intensive care, the mean ratio of nurse practitioners to patients was 1 to 4 (range, 1 to 3 - 1 to 8). Factors that affected nurse practitioner and physician assistant provider to patient ratios included patients' severity of illness, number of patients in the unit, number of providers in the unit, patient diagnosis, number of physicians in the unit, time of day, and number of fellows and medical residents on service.
Additional information on factors influencing provider to patient ratios and specific components of the roles of nurse practitioners and physician assistants will be important to ensure the best utilization of these providers to enable optimal patient care outcomes.
执业护士和医师助理正越来越多地融入重症监护病房及医院护理团队，但关于医护人员与患者比例的信息有限。
确定在重症监护病房和急症护理病房工作的执业护士和医师助理目前的医护人员与患者比例，并评估影响该比例的因素。
采用描述性研究设计，对美国执业护士协会、美国医师助理学会和危重病医学会的成员进行基于网络的调查。
收到了来自美国50个州中除8个州外的所有州以及加拿大的222名执业护士和211名医师助理的回复。重症监护病房的平均医护人员与患者比例为1比5（范围为1比3至1比8）。在儿科重症监护病房，执业护士与患者的平均比例为1比4（范围为1比3至1比8）。影响执业护士和医师助理医护人员与患者比例的因素包括患者的病情严重程度、病房患者数量、病房医护人员数量、患者诊断、病房医生数量、一天中的时间以及住院医师和实习医生的数量。
获取更多关于影响医护人员与患者比例的因素以及执业护士和医师助理角色具体组成部分的信息，对于确保最佳利用这些医护人员以实现最佳患者护理结果至关重要。
