Nurse patient ratio legislation supported by CCDM

Nurse patient ratio legislation has been shown to save lives, reduce nurse burnout and intention to leave (see the multitude of research).

However, ratios can be used to justify cost savings and the attendant risk of not having enough skilled and experienced nurses to meet the demands of the clinical interface, whether it is in the community (PHC or Aged Care) or in hospital based care. Therefore a tool such as CCDM, which is culturally safe and appropriate, must be used in conjunction with mandated ratios to ensure that surges in demand are safely met.

1. Provides certainty for nurses wherever they work that they will have the required skill, experience and resource to meet the workload demands at the time it is needed.

2. Provides opportunity/certainty to plan for funding and student nurse numbers going forward

3. Reduces the likelihood of nurse shortages in the future as CCDM is used to proactively identify nursing requirements in any area of clinical interface and there is legislative protection that requires these identified nursing capacity needs are recruited to.

4. supports ongoing evaluation of the patient outcomes and nurse outcomes

5. supports education providers with the data needed to plan for student numbers and Te Ara going forward plus rationale for funding requirements (see idea on retaining older nurses to support student nurse placements)

6. Reduces risk of avoidable patient harm and death.