An assessment of the staffing level required for a high-dependency unit

✍ Scribed by M. Garfield; R. Jeffrey; S. Ridley

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 138 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2409
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2044.2000.055002137.x

✦ Synopsis

High‐dependency units are increasing in number and becoming an ever more important part of a hospital's facilities. The optimum staffing ratio is unknown, but the Department of Health and the Intensive Care Society recommend a level of one nurse to two patients. We recorded Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System‐28 scores and Nurse Dependency Scores for all admissions to our adult, general high‐dependency unit over 7 months. We found a weak correlation between the nurse dependency score and the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System‐28 score. The median Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System‐28 score was 23 points (interquartile range 19–26), and the median Nurse Dependency Score was 1.0. These results are approximately two‐thirds of those for European intensive care units. We conclude that a nurse‐to‐patient ratio of 1 : 2 may be insufficient for an adult general high‐dependency unit, and would recommend a nurse‐to‐patient ratio of 2 : 3.