Nurse Well-Being and Patient-Specific Outcomes: A Scoping Review.

Abstract

Background: The health and well-being of the nursing workforce has received recent attention due to nurse attrition and the critical nurse shortages projected across the country. A nurse's well-being may impact patient outcomes.

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review was to assess the association between nurse well-being factors and specific patient outcomes.

Methods: The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) PRISMA Scoping Review protocol and 2020 reporting guidelines were utilized in this review.

Results: Staffing, environment, physical health, and mental health of nurses were correlated to specific adverse patient outcomes among the 97 articles included in the final review. The majority of the articles reported significant findings.

Conclusions: Patient outcomes were reviewed as discrete events in the articles examined. With mixed results found on key patient outcomes, future research requires more in-depth investigation into the role nurse well-being has on patient outcomes.