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The Big Hairy Important Paper: nurse-to-baby ratios
The BHIP in this edition is the one we lead with, ‘The effects of a one to one nurse to patient ratio on the mortality rate in neonatal intensive care’, together with an accompanying editorial by Fenton et al. In spite of the paper's self-evident importance, and the fact that we commissioned the Editorial, I highlight it here because it is the best evidence (short of the randomised trial that can never be done) that mortality is related to the nurse to baby ratio. One of the authors' main insights, important in any discussion with commissioners of services, is that 1:1 nurse staffing is relatively inexpensive in relation to lives saved: they suggest an incremental cost of around £12 800 (€16 150; $18 000) per life saved. See page F186
Worrying about blood pressure #2
Six months ago I titled one of my Highlights ‘Worrying about blood pressure’. I'm still at it. Back then we published a paper by Faust et al,1 which set out to try to answer a question along the lines of ‘Is there a level of blood pressure below which there is a realistic chance of harm?’ In this …
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