Study: Rural Nursing Homes Do Better with One RN Per Four CNAs

According to a new study, rural nursing homes provide better care when they hit a staffing ratio of one full-time registered nurse for every four CNAs.

The researchers found that rural facilities who hit this ratio "significantly improved" their composite scores for long-stay residents. The score took into account a number of individual quality indicators, such as pressure ulcer and UTI prevalence.

The reasons for this are not immediately clear, the researchers noted. They did observe that increasing RN hours resulted in fewer physical restraints and that increasing CNA hours improved pressure ulcer and ADL outcomes.

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