Penn Nursing study finds link between nurse work environment quality and COVID-19 mortality disparities

A new Penn Nursing Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) study – published in INQUIRY – has found a strong association between the quality of the nurse work environment and COVID-19 mortality rates among socially vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries.

The study examined data from 238 acute care hospitals across New York and Illinois.

The researchers found that patients from socially vulnerable communities, including those facing higher levels of poverty, housing insecurity, and limited transportation, were more likely to die from COVID-19 if they were hospitalized in hospitals with poor nurse work environments. Conversely, patients from these communities were less likely to die from COVID-19 if they were hospitalized in hospitals with high-quality nurse work environments.

The study analyzed data from Medicare claims, American Hospital Association Annual Survey data, and the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). The researchers found that patients in the highest quartile of social vulnerability were more likely to die from COVID-19 than those in the lowest quartile. However, this disparity was narrowed when patients from the most socially vulnerable communities were cared for in hospitals with high-quality nurse work environments.

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing release on Newswise