In New Zealand safe staffing ratios are yet to be enforced and this is having a detrimental effect on nurse to patient ratio in our hospitals. Nurses are currently taking large patient loads, which are causing two main areas of concern. Many studies have identified that larger workloads for nurses correlates directly with patient outcomes; mortality rates, morbidities, adverse events and nursing errors. As well as nurse outcomes such as job satisfaction, absence/sickness, bur…
