Nurse labor data: the collection and interpretation of nurse-to-patient ratios.

Nurse labor has been shown to be related to some patient outcomes, but varying definitions and measurement approaches have resulted in conflicting findings about the nature of the relationship. Nurse administrators and researchers need to know rates of missing data and error in labor data to better inform decision making. The authors compare the degree of completeness and the agreement between these approaches (nurse survey and nurse-to-patient ratio staffing plans) to obtain patient-to-nurse ratios at the unit level.