Effect of Nurse Work Hours on Nursing Home Patients Antipsychotic Medication Usage

Antipsychotic medications used to treat and manage psychosis are sometimes prescribed inappropriately to nursing home patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between direct care (registered nurse [RN] and licensed practical nurse [LPN]) staffing hours in New York nursing homes (independent variable) and the rate of antipsychotic medication usage (dependent variable) as well as the issuance of antipsychotic (F-758) citations (dependent variable). Donabedian’s three-part model served as the theoretical framework and aligned this study concerning nursing homes’ capacity and processes concerning staffing and antipsychotic medication administration. The study consisted of a quantitative examination of a sample of the New York nursing home’s direct care staffing hours, nursing home antipsychotic medication administration (F-758) citations, and antipsychotic medication administration rates. The secondary datasets were acquired from the Long-Term Care Community Coalition. Linear regression analysis was used to analyze the data. For Research Question 1, the results of this study indicated a significant association between direct care staffing hours worked and antipsychotic medications used. For Research Question 2, there was minimally noted significance in the correlation between direct care staffing hours and the rate of antipsychotic medication related citations. The implications for social change are strengthening the delivery of patient care via improvement of antipsychotic medication management, enhancement of health outcomes for the elderly, reduction of health care costs, and reduction of the number of antipsychotic citations in nursing homes.