Patients more likely to die if treated by nurses without degrees

February 26, 2014

(The Telegraph) – Hospital patients are more likely to die after surgery if they are treated by nurses who don’t have a bachelor’s degree, a study has found. Researchers followed up more than 420,000 patients from 300 hospitals across Europe and discovered that staff training was crucial to post-op survival. Every 10 per cent increase in the proportion of nurses holding a bachelors degree at a hospital was associated with 7 per cent lower surgical death rates.