With 50,000 coronavirus deaths – around 40% of the US total – in US nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities, new research has now connected those outbreaks with a lack of RNs.
The University of Rochester study found facilities with more registered nurses on duty had 22% fewer confirmed coronavirus cases when compared to those with lower RN staffing levels.
Looking at data from Connecticut nursing homes and comparing it to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Service’s (CMS) Nursing Home Compare website – which tracks quality, staffing, and health outcomes for nursing homes nationally – the team also discovered that nursing homes that had 4- or 5-star ratings had 13% fewer confirmed cases than facilities with 1- , 2- or 3-star ratings.
Race also played a part, with homes with a higher concentration of Medicaid residents (the equivalent of supported residents here) residents having 16% more confirmed cases than their counterparts, and facilities with more minorities having 15% more confirmed cases.
The researchers say the wide disparities between facilities were already apparent before the pandemic – with homes with fewer resources and more socially and economically disadvantaged residents showing poorer health outcomes – but the virus has underscored this.
“In most nursing homes, RNs are the linchpin for the assessment and provision of medical care, including early identification of and response to emergencies and life threatening situations,” Yue Li, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Public Health Sciences and lead author of the study, said.
“Our findings of the strong negative association between RN staffing and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes are consistent with research that has demonstrated that increased nursing levels are key to an institution’s ability to respond to outbreaks of emerging infections.”
The researchers say the findings should now be used to guide the country’s efforts to control infection rates in nursing homes – recommending regulators target homes with lower RN staffing levels and quality ratings.
