May 06, 2026
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A hospital patient's risk of dying within 30 days rises by 8% for each additional patient assigned to their nurse, new Penn research suggests.
Reducing the number of patients a nurse is required to care for in hospitals could save thousands of lives and millions of dollars, new research from the University of Pennsylvania shows.
The study, published last week, found that a patient's risk of dying within 30 days rose by 8% for each additional patient assigned to the nurse. The likelihood of hospital readmission went up by 4% for each additional patient.
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Nurses with high patients loads were more likely to experience burnout and feel dissatisfied with their jobs. The study involved nearly 550,000 patients at 132 hospitals in Pennsylvania. They were cared for by about 2,780 nurses.
The findings emphasize the need to address a nationwide nursing shortage and to pass legislation ensuring lower nurse-to-patient ratios, the researchers said.
Pennsylvania hospitals have uneven nursing staffing levels, ranging from three to nine patients per nurse. Nurses say loads of four to five patients are safe, according to the researchers.
The nationwide nursing shortage is exacerbating nurse-patient ratios. A significant number of nurses are nearing retirement and increased numbers of nurses have left the field since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even with 177,400 nurses expected to enter the workforce by 2032, there will be more than 193,000 nurse job openings, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"Ensuring safe nurse staffing is a proactive way to retain nurses and improve patient safety," said Linda Aiken, the study's senior author and founding director of Penn Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research.
The Patient Safety Act would have established more uniform nurse-patient ratios at hospitals in the state. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed the bill in 2023, but the Senate failed to vote on it before the session expired.
By instituting safer nurse-patient ratios, job turnover would also go down, saving an estimated $66 million, the researchers found.
Additionally, shorter hospital stays resulting from safer staffing levels would save an estimated $239 million. This could help offset the hiring of more nurses, according to the study.
"Policies like this can help prevent the kinds of workforce strain and disruptions that we've seen in other states," Aiken said.
