Impact on care delivery and hospital capacity. All respondents were asked
whether they had observed any of a list of situations as a result of nurse shortages in
hospitals (Exhibit 1). Overall,many respondents reported an impact on the four process
indicators and the four capacity indicators. Respondents perceived that the
nurse shortage had affected processes more often than capacity. Additionally, RNs
were significantly more likely than other respondents to report that the shortage
had affected six of the eight process and capacity indicators.