A new study from Penn’s School of Nursing, published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, challenges conventional thought regarding the benefits of continuity in nursing care within intensive care units (ICUs).
The researchers find that increased nurse continuity is not associated with a reduction in in-hospital mortality—in some shifts, it is even linked to a modest but statistically significant increase in mortality. Researchers define “cumulative nurse continuity” as the proportion of 12-hour shifts during which a patient is cared for by a nurse who had previously attended to them. Although overall continuity increased over time, the data reveals that higher continuity is not associated with improved patient outcomes, prompting a re-examination of its presumed benefits.