Recent studies demonstrate what most people already know: There’s a strong connection between high-quality nursing care and patient outcomes, safety and satisfaction. But a chronic nurse shortage and staffing arrangements that often stretch nurses too thin mean that nurses are working longer shifts caring for larger numbers of sicker patients. This situation compromises care. Nurses literally run through their shifts trying to complete seemingly endless tasks, but have less and less time to actually spend time with their patients listening, assessing, educating and truly caring for their charges – the reason the vast majority of RNs entered the profession. These often untenable conditions contribute to the nursing shortage by driving nurses from the bedside.