News Medical Net: Better nurse work environments associated with improved stroke outcomes

In a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s (Penn Nursing) Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR), researchers evaluated the association between the nurse work environment and readmission and length of stay for close to 200,000 hospitalized adult ischemic stroke patients in more than 500 hospitals. They found that in hospitals with better nurse work environments, ischemic stroke patients experienced lower odds of 7 and 30-day readmissions and lower lengths of stay. Creating good work environments for nurses is especially important so that they have adequate time to spend with stroke patients and can communicate effectively with all team members and feel supported by managers to make decisions about nursing care. “All of these aspects of the nurse work environment facilitate an effective and efficient discharge planning process, which has the potential to decrease delays in discharge and avoidable readmissions,” says J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor of Nursing and one of the co-authors of the article. Read more at News Medical Net.