‘Nurse Ratio’ at Weekends Key to Storke Survival for Patients

August 20, 2014

(BBC) – The number of nurses available at weekends – but not the frequency of doctors’ ward rounds – affects chances of survival after stroke, a study says. Researchers found patients admitted to stroke units with the lowest ratio of nurses were most likely to die in the month after a stroke. But weekend ward rounds led by senior doctors did not appear to make a difference to the death rate. The PLoS Medicine study analysed data from more than 100 English hospitals.