Petsunee Thungjaroenkul

Nurse staffing and cost of care in adult intensive care units in a university hospital in Thailand

Decisions about nurse staffing levels in intensive care units (ICUs) should be guided by research to ensure optimal outcomes. This descriptive correlational study in a large Thai hospital was designed to evaluate the effect of nurse staffing levels on the costs of care, in terms of medical care cost per patient day and health personnel cost per patient day, in ICUs. The costing data were collected prospectively from the records of 242 critically ill patients while the nurse staffing levels were extracted from hospital management reports. The findings showed that a nurse staffing model with a higher number of registered nurses (RNs) led to an increase in the health personnel cost per patient day. However, a greater number of RNs was associated with improved patient safety and efficiency, thereby reducing the length of stay and the costs of care in the long term. This study provides evidence to support decisions by hospital administrators concerning RN staffing levels.

Testing a model of depression among Thai adolescents.

PROBLEM This predictive correlational study was designed to test a comprehensive model of depression for Thai adolescents. METHODS This sample included 800 high school students in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Data were collected using self-reported measures of depression, negative automatic thoughts, effective social problem solving, ineffective social problem solving, rumination, parental care, parental overprotection, and negative life events. FINDINGS Structural equation modeling revealed that negative automatic thoughts, effective and ineffective social problem solving mediated the effects of rumination, negative life events, and parental care and overprotection on adolescent depression. CONCLUSION These findings provide new knowledge about identified factors and the mechanisms of their influence on depression among Thai adolescents, which are appropriate for targeting preventive interventions.