Berlin: (hib/STO) The “Report of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds and the German Hospital Association on the effects of minimum nursing staff limits in the care-sensitive areas in hospitals” is available as information from the Federal Government (20/10810). The self-governing partners are thus submitting to the Bundestag, via the Federal Ministry of Health, a scientific evaluation of the effects of the minimum nursing staff limits (PpUG) in hospitals in accordance with Section 137i Paragraph 6 of the Fifth Book of the Social Security Code (SGB V).
According to the template, the evaluation shows, on the one hand, the implementation of the PpUG based on the evidence from the more than 1,300 hospitals that were evaluated by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds. “The key figures for understaffed shifts and non-compliance are shown on a monthly average, as well as a distribution of the number of patients to be cared for per nurse,” the information continues. The key figures are then differentiated according to shift type and regional implementation.
As the authors also explain, the assessment of nursing directors and senior nursing staff about the effects is presented based on an analysis by the IGES Institute, in which 437 hospital locations took part. The effects on the care of patients and on the nursing staff (including personnel and duty planning) as well as on the hospital locations themselves were assessed.
In addition, according to the information, experiences with the procedures for evidence and sanctions are shown. The procedures are described in the report and the experiences and possible potential for improvement of the nursing directors and senior nursing staff surveyed are recorded.
Since the self-administration partners evaluate the PpUG instrument differently, the report ends with separate conclusions from the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds and the German Hospital Association. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds advocates for the PpUG and its expansion and further development. In contrast, the German Hospital Association fundamentally rejects the PpUG “as a rigid, backward-looking and bureaucratic control instrument” and as “not appropriate and needs-based”.