Not-for-profit hospitals rated high for quality of care

AORN Journal, March, 2007

Patients may be more likely to receive high-quality care in not-for-profit hospitals and in hospitals with more RNs and advanced technology, according to a Dec 11, 2006, news release from Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Researchers analyzed the quality of care that patients received in more than 4,000 US hospitals for three common medical conditions: congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia. Researchers also examined the hospital characteristics leg, ownership, size, location, teaching status) to determine which were associated with high-quality performance.

Researchers found that not-for-profit hospitals consistently had better performance than for-profit hospitals in delivering high-quality care for the three medical conditions studied. The results also showed that hospitals with more advanced technology demonstrated high performance, and federal or military hospitals had the highest performance.

In addition, researchers assessed how the number of RNs on staff affected quality of care and found that hospitals with more RNs on staff had better performance. Hospitals with more licensed practical nurses on staff, however, were associated with lower performance. Researchers suggested that RNs, as the principal caregivers to patients, provide an important link to the quality of care that patients receive.

Not-for-profit Hospitals, More Nurses, and Greater Availability of Technology Services Mean Better Care for Patients [news release]. Boston, Mass: Harvard Medical School Office of Public Affairs; December 11, 2006. Available at: http://web.med.harvard.edu/sites/RELEASES/html/12_11Landon.html. Accessed January 4, 2007.