Introduction:

Nursing staffing in adult intensive care has been at a ratio of two patients per nurse or one patient for one nurse. Currently, patients require complex and specialized care that provides safety and reduces Healthcare-Associated Infections.

Objective:

Evidencing the importance of equipping nursing personnel according to the severity of the patient compared to the nurse-patient ratio in order to reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections in patients in the adult intensive care unit.

Methodology:

This is a systematic review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, conducted from September 2021 to March 2022. The databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, Epistemonikos and CUIDEN were used, and the following terms were utilized, i.e., nursing personnel, patient severity, nurse-patient ratio, healthcare-associated infections, and the Boolean operators AND, OR, and WITH. The sample consisted of 8 studies that were assessed using the Critical Reading Cards (FLC 3.0) and graded according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Results:

Staffing according to patient severity compared to the nurse-patient indicator reduced healthcare-associated infections, mortality, sepsis occurrence, and medication errors. The impact on patients and nursing personnel showed improved quality of care and reduced burnout and work stress, which benefited the patient.

Conclusion:

It is important to provide nursing personnel according to the severity of the patient and with personnel having an academic level of at least a bachelor's degree in order to improve the quality of care and reduce healthcare-associated infections.