DON’T TRUST THE HEADLINES: A critical review of ‘Value of NP Inpatient Hospital Staffing”

A quick review of the flaws in ‘Value of Nurse Practitioner Inpatient Hospital Staffing”

1. Study involved acute-care surgical centers, not true hospitals

2. Unclear response rate with extensive ‘recontact’ efforts

3. Main data parameter obtained by asking RNs to guess ‘How many NPs do you think work at your hospital?’ No effort to objectively quantify this data.

4. Subjective data points, including RN subjective beliefs about care quality

5. Study author and funding potential for bias 6. Discussion and policy implications do not relate to study results