Background: Continuity of nursing care in hospitals remains poor and not prioritized, and we do not know whether discontinuous nursing care is negatively impacting patient outcomes.
Objectives: This study aims to examine nursing care discontinuity and its effect on patient clinical condition over the course of acute hospitalization.
Research design: Retrospective longitudinal analysis of electronic health records (EHR). Average point-in-time discontinuity was estimated from time of admission to discharge and compared with theoretical predictions for optimal continuity and random nurse assignment. Mixed-effects models estimated within-patient change in clinical condition following a discontinuity.
Subjects: A total of 3892 adult medical-surgical inpatients were admitted to a tertiary academic medical center in the Eastern United States during July 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.
Measures: Exposure: discontinuity of nursing care was measured at each nurse assessment entry into a patient's EHR as assignment of the patient to a nurse with no prior assignment to that patient.
Outcome: patient's clinical condition score (Rothman Index) continuously tracked in the EHR.
Results: Discontinuity declined from nearly 100% in the first 24 hours to 70% at 36 hours, and to 50% by the 10th postadmission day. Discontinuity was higher than predicted for optimal continuity, but not random. Each instance of discontinuity lead to a 0.12-0.23 point decline in the Rothman Index score, with more pronounced effects for older and high-mortality risk patients.
Conclusions: Discontinuity in acute care nurse assignments was high and negatively impacted patient clinical condition. Improved continuity of provider-patient assignment should be advocated to improve patient outcomes in acute care.