Which factors determine the patients’ care intensity for surgeons and surgical nurses? A conjoint analysis

Background In the Netherlands more than 50% of the adverse events are related to surgical procedures. Therefore the risks of direct harm and high hospitalization costs are substantial. This makes adequate staffing of surgeons and nurses an important issue on clinical wards as insufficient staffing is related to higher mortality and morbidity rates. Clinical surgeons and nurses sometimes perceive a high workload on their surgical wards, which may influence admission decisions and staffing policy. Yet, it is unclear what the relative contribution is of various patient and care characteristics to the perceived patients’ care intensity and whether differences exist in the perception of surgeons and nurses.