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Table 2 Characteristics of 343 secondary medical areas in Japan

From: The association between higher nurse staffing standards in the fee schedules and the geographic distribution of hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study using nationwide administrative data

n = 343

 

Mean

SD

Outcome variable

 Nurses per 100,000 populations

426.4

147.5

 Associate nurses per 100,000 populations

103.2

61.9

 Nursing aids per 100,000 populations

161.9

72.2

Independent variables

Hospital bed densities per 100,000 population

 Beds with a 7:1 patient-to-nurse ratio

271.9

185.9

 Beds with a 10:1 patient-to-nurse ratio

231.3

188.9

 Beds with a 13:1 patient-to-nurse ratio

24.2

41.8

 Beds with a 15:1 patient-to-nurse ratio

49.3

55.8

 Intensive care unit bedsa

12.0

13.5

 Long-term care beds

205.7

141.5

 Psychiatric ward beds

220.2

168.4

Socioeconomic variables

 Population density (person/km2)

1692.6

2674.5

 Unemployment rate (%)

6.4

1.4

 Per capita income (100 thousand yen)

28.5

4.5

 Standard number of beds in Prefectural Medical Care Plans (thousand beds)

3.1

3.3

Nurse workforce-related variables

 Average annual wage of nurses (100,000 yen)b,c

46.4

3.2

 The number of graduates from nursing schools per 100,000 populationc

43.4

12.4

 The number of graduates from associate nursing schools per 100,000 populationc

10.0

7.5

 Turnover rate (%)c

10.1

2.2

  1. aIntensive care units include emergency departments, high dependency units, stroke care units, neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, and maternal-fetal intensive care units
  2. b1 US$ = 109 yen as of June 3, 2016
  3. cThe data at each prefecture level were substituted