Nursing Care for Patients
Identifying Attributes
Care Settings
Hospital Care
Country
United States of America
Publishing Organisation
The Leapfrog Group
Type of Quality Indicator
Process
IOM Quality Dimension
Efficiency
Setting-Specific Domain
Service Delivery and Care Planning
Defining Attributes
Definition
Total number of hours that employed or contracted registered nurses (RNs) spend providing direct patients care such as nursing rounds, nursing treatments, medication administration, or other direct care to patients in a medical, surgical, or med-surg units each day.
Numerator
Total number of productive hours worked by RN nursing staff with direct patient care responsibilities.
Denominator
Total number of patient days.
Exclusions
None
Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
None
Stratifications
By hospital cohort (small teaching, large teaching, non-teaching, paediatric, critical access hospital, or mixed acuity units).
Collection and Reporting Attributes
Type of Data Collection
Surveys
Data Collection Methods
Leapfrog Hospital Survey
Frequency of Data Collection
Annually
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
365
Reporting Methods
Publicly reported at: ratings.leapfroggroup.org/
Reporting Frequency
Annually
Reporting Frequency in Days
365
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
Yes
Source and Reference Attributes
Link to Measurement Tools
Domain
Workforce
Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Can the Quality Indicator be Readily Implemented at a Population Level in Australia Given its Current Data Landscape?
Implementation of this quality indicator was not assessed.
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
23 July 2025
Contents
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Date Modified 10 June 2026