AACN Standards for Appropriate Staffing in Adult Critical Care

“AACN Standards for Appropriate Staffing in Adult Critical Care” establishes seven standards intended to improve some of the many processes that affect appropriate registered nurse staffing.

The standards are designed to be broad enough to apply to a wide range of adult critical care settings, while also offering specific actions that support nurses and units in addressing nurse burnout, moral distress and the nurse shortage as a whole.

The standards offer foundational guidance to operationalize AACN’s Appropriate Staffing standard. Each of the seven staffing standards provides actions, exemplars, tools and resources to implement, evaluate and improve nurse staffing practices. Leveraging the other five AACN Healthy Work Environment standards, the associated actions and exemplars demonstrate real-world tactics to implement the staffing standards.

The staffing standards — together with a deep commitment to collaboration and change from healthcare leaders, nurses and staff — provide the opportunity for evidence-based and transformational progress that can profoundly improve the healthcare system’s ability to meet patients’ needs and enhance a healthy work environment.