Observational studyBMC health services research2025
The relationship between nurse contact time and patient outcomes: a retrospective observational study using Real-Time Location data.
Observational study in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Greater parental health literacy does not improve assessment of their child's emergency condition severity.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Observational
- Artificial intelligence readiness and its relationship with thriving at work among Chinese nurses: a latent profile analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Exploring the relationship between severity of patient illness and in room primary care nursing time in a medical intensive care unit.Applied ergonomics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this study, we utilize a novel and unique data source to examine the relationship between nurses' contact time and patients' hospital outcomes. While previous research has demonstrated that higher nurse staffing levels lead to better outcomes, the specific contribution of increased direct patient care time to these improvements remains unknown. Using data from a Real-Time Location System (RTLS) that tracks the movement of staff and patients across the hospital wards using Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors, we can estimate the time patients "actually" spend with nursing staff during an inpatient stay. We find that the average patient is in contact with nurses for about 8 h a day, of which 22 min are of direct care at the patient's bedside. We find a statistically significant association between contact time, measured as the total number of minutes in a day the patient is in contact with nursing staff, and in-hospital mortality. A 10-minute increase in contact time is associated in our data with a 0.05% reduction in mortality. By emphasizing the importance of patient-centered care and the role of contact time in shaping patient outcomes, our results suggest the need for healthcare institutions to prioritize strategies that optimize patient-provider interactions.
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Registered trials
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