A higher proportion of hours of nursing care provided by registered nurses and a greater number of hours of care by registered nurses per day are associated with better care for hospitalized patients.

We construct national estimates of the cost of increasing hospital nurse staffing and associated reductions in days, deaths, and adverse outcomes. Raising the proportion of nursing hours provided by registered nurses (RNs) without increasing total nursing hours is associated with a net reduction in costs. Increasing nursing hours, with or without increasing the proportion of hours provided by RNs, reduces days, adverse outcomes, and patient deaths, but with a net increase in hospital costs of 1.5 percent or less at the staffing levels modeled. Whether or not staffing should be increased depends on the value patients and payers assign to avoided deaths and complications.

In patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction, treatment with drug-eluting stents is associated with decreased 2-year mortality rates and a reduction in the need for repeat revascularization procedures as compared with treatment with bare-metal stents.

Background-Drug-eluting stents (DES) reduce the need for repeat revascularization, but their long-term safety relative to that of bare-metal stents (BMS) in general use remains uncertain. We sought to compare the clinical outcome of patients treated with DES with that of BMS. Methods and Results-All adults undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting between April 1, 2003, and September 30, 2004, at non-US government hospitals in Massachusetts were identified from a mandatory state database. Patients were classified from the index admission according to stent types used. Clinical and procedural risk factors were collected prospectively. Risk-adjusted mortality, myocardial infarction, and revascularization rate differences (DESϪBMS) were estimated through propensity score matching without replacement. A total of 11 556 patients were treated with DES, and 6237 were treated with BMS, with unadjusted 2-year mortality rates of 7.0% and 12.6%, respectively (PϽ0.0001). In 5549 DES patients matched to 5549 BMS patients, 2-year risk-adjusted mortality rates were 9.8% and 12.0%, respectively (Pϭ0.0002), whereas the respective rates for myocardial infarction and target-vessel revascularization were 8.3% versus 10.3% (Pϭ0.0005) and 11.0% versus 16.8% (PϽ0.0001). Conclusions-DES treatment was associated with lower rates of mortality, myocardial infarction, and target-vessel revascularization than BMS treatment in similar patients in a matched population-based study. Comprehensive follow-up in this inclusive population is warranted to identify whether similar safety and efficacy remain beyond 2 years.