All-RN model of nursing care delivery: a cost-benefit evaluation

Abstract

The proponents of the primary model of nursing, in which a single nurse bears direct and indirect responsibility for a given number of patients during their hospital stay, suggest that both nurse and patient stand to gain from this system of service delivery. In this study, an all-RN model of delivery was compared with a team model and a modular model. The study was carefully designed to control for the quantity and quality of nurses in all three models. The study found no appreciable differences among the three models in the quality of care delivered. The all-RN model, however, was found to be more costly than the other two models.