Nurse understaffing is associated with adverse events in postanaesthesia care unit patients

Aims and objectives To investigate the associations between nurse staffing and the incidence and severity of hypoxaemia, arterial hypotension and bradycardia of postoperative patients during their postanaesthesia care unit stay. Background Nurse understaffing has been associated with adverse patient outcomes in a variety of hospital settings. In the postanaesthesia care unit, nursing shortage is common and can be related to compromised prevention, detection and treatment of adverse events. Design Observational, single‐centre, prospective study that adhered to Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology checklist (see Supporting information Appendix S1); 2,207 patients admitted to the postanaesthesia care unit of a tertiary care hospital over a 5‐month period were enrolled. Methods Incidence of hypoxaemia (arterial oxygen saturation