Included below are selected resources on nurse staffing ratios, infection control and readmissions.

Nurse Staffing Ratios

• Nurse Staffing and Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Policy Brief
  Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
  This study examines the impact of nurse staffing on rural hospital performance improvement in the CMS/Premier Inc. Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project. Higher registered nurse (RN) staffing hours per patient day are associated with higher scores on composite quality measures for pneumonia, heart failure, acute myocardial infarction and a hospital-wide composite score. The relationship between RN staffing and quality measures does not differ based on rural or urban location, the number of staffed beds, or medical school affiliation.
• Nurse to Patient Staffing Ratios
  Online Journal of Issues in Nursing
• Nurse Staffing Ratios
  Nurse-recruiter.com
• American Nurses Association Website
  American Nurses Association
• Hospital Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care
  Agency for Healthcare Research and Technology
• Metric Monitoring Report
  American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA)
  Contact ASHHRA for its Metric Monitoring Report. This is a for sale item which includes some performance indicators.

Infection Control

• Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe Care
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Small/Rural Infection Control Programs
  National Center for Biotechnology Information
  
• State Level Data for CAHs
  Flex Monitoring Team
• Environmental Infection Control
  CDC
• Nosocomial Infection Prevalence, Risk, and Control in Small Community and Rural Hospitals
  The University of Chicago Press

Readmissions

• Critical Access Hospital Year 5 Hospital Compare
  Flex Monitoring Team
  Includes analysis of mortality and readmission data.
• 2010 Annual Survey of Hours Report: Direct & Total Hours per Patient Day (HPPD) by Patient Care Units
  Labor Management Institute
  Includes RN, LPN/LVN, and nurse aide patient staffing ratios for units within the hospital and reports data for rural hospitals as a category.
• Comparative Health Care Performance Data
  WhyNottheBest.org (The Commonwealth Fund)
  This allows for comparison of hospitals to national and top 10 pools and includes comparison categories for rural hospitals. It also includes some selected infection control data.

Financial Indicators

• CAH Financial Indicators Report: Summary of Indicator Medians by State
  Flex Monitoring Team
  Fields: Finance, State Performance
• Critical Access Hospitals and Financial Benchmark Performance
  Flex Monitoring Team
  Field: Finance
• CAH Financial Indicators Report: Summary of Indicator Medians by State (October 2009)
  Flex Monitoring Team
  Field: Finance
• Developing Financial Benchmarks for Critical Access Hospitals
  Healthcare Financing Review – Spring 2009
  Field: Finance