Antipsychotic Use in US LTC Facilities Connected With Staffing Levels

With prior evidence suggesting staffing levels in long-term care (LTC) facilities may impact rates of inappropriate antipsychotic use, researchers examined the connection between antipsychotic prescribing and staffing in LTC facilities.

Data on US LTC facilities between 2016 and 2018 was extracted from the Nursing Home Compare and LTCFocus datasets, which also contained information from the Minimum Data Set database on facility characteristics and staffing measures from the Payroll-Based Journal system.

Of the 10,436 facilities included, the mean staff level was 3.69 (SD = 0.67) staffing hours per patient per day. The mean antipsychotic use rate across all facilities was 15.24% (SD = 8.62%).

Researchers reported a 0.75% decrease in inappropriate antipsychotic prescribing per unit increase in overall staff-to-patient ratio.