Becker's Hospital Review

44 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Workplace factors that are 'extremely important' to nurses By Mariah Taylor B etter pay rates was the most important aspect of the workplace for nurses, according to a recent AMN Healthcare report. The "Nurses in 2024" report surveyed more than 1,150 nurses about their work. It found that 35% said they are "extremely likely" to leave their jobs this year, and 35% said they are likely to change their schedule or hours this year. The survey asked nurses how important different elements of the workplace were. Here are the six elements of the workplace with the percentage of nurses who said it was "extremely important": Better pay rates for nurses: 75% More nurses per patient: 68% Better scheduling/hours for nurses: 58% More recognition for nurses: 47% More wellness programs for nurses: 42% More diversity among nurses: 26% n More safety work needed in outpatient settings, study suggests By Mackenzie Bean W hile preventable harm in hospital settings has been a widely discussed issue for decades, new research suggests that adverse events are relatively common in outpatient settings, marking a critical opportunity to improve safety. A team led by researchers at Boston-based Mass General Brigham conducted the study published May 7 in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers analyzed data on 3,103 patients who received care at 11 outpatient sites in Massachusetts in 2018. Four key findings: • Seven percent of patients had at least one adverse event, and 1.9% experienced at least one preventable event. • Adverse drug events were the most common type (63.8%), followed by healthcare-associated infections (14.8%) and surgical or procedural events (14.2%). • About 17% of adverse events were serious, and 2.1% were life- threatening. • Adults 85 and older were disproportionately affected by adverse events in outpatient settings. Nearly 9% experienced preventable adverse events and 4.4% had serious adverse events. Researchers said the findings merit urgent actions to prevent outpatient harm. For health systems, the first step is ensuring they're measuring patient safety in both inpatient and outpatient settings. "Our study is an alarm bell. About 1-in-4 people every month are touched by outpatient care, yet we do not know enough about its safety. If we do not measure outpatient safety, we cannot start to improve care for all patients," corresponding author David Levine, MD, a clinician- investigator and internal medicine physician at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in a news release. n Female physicians have lower patient mortality, readmission rates: Study By Mariah Taylor Patients treated by female physicians have lower mortality and readmission rates, a recent study found. e study, published April 23 in Annals of Internal Medicine, used a 20% random sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries hospitalized with medical conditions between 2016 and 2019 and treated by hospitalists. Of 458,108 female patients and 318,819 male patients, 31.1% and 30.6%, respectively, were treated by a female physician. Both female and male patients had lower patient mortality when treated by a female physician, but female patients had greater results from being treated by female physicians. e difference in patient mortality between female and male physicians was 8.15% and 8.38% respectively. e pattern was similar for readmission rates. For male patients, there was no significant difference in outcomes based on the gender of their physician. "Studies have shown that treatment by female physicians leads to improved communication effectiveness, better rapport and greater agreement about advice provided in female patients," the researchers wrote. "Some (prior) studies also suggest that seeing a female physician is associated with higher quality-of-care processes, especially in female patients." n

• Cover