In 1999, California adopted historic legislation requiring that specific minimum nurse-to-patient ratios be established for all units in acute care hospitals in the state. The Department of Health Services established regulations in accordance with this legislation, and the ratios were implemented on January 1, 2004. Center researchers have been examining the potential and ultimate effects of this legislation since it was passed, and have published several reports on potential and early effects of the ratios. Center faculty also were involved in research led by Linda Aiken at the University of Pennsylvania and Barbara Mark at the University of North Carolina.
California’s Minimum Nurse Staffing Legislation: Results from a Natural Experiment (2013)
Staffing Changes Before and After Mandated Nurse-to-Patient Ratios in California’s Hospitals (2011)
Implications of the California Nurse Staffing Mandate for Other States (2010)
Assessing the Impact of California’s Nurse Staffing Ratios on Hospitals and Patient Care (2009)
California’s Minimum-Nurse-Staffing Regulations and Nurses’ Wages (2009)
Nurse Satisfaction and the Implementation of Minimum Nurse Staffing Regulations (2008)
Public Policy and Nurse Staffing: What Approach is Best? (2005)
California’s Minimum Nurse-to-Patient Ratios: The First Few Months (2004)
Minimum Staffing Ratios: The California Workforce Initiative Survey (2003)
Minimum Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios in Acute Care Hospitals in California (2002)
What Should We Expect From California’s Minimum Nurse Staffing Legislation? (2001)
Minimum Nurse Staffing Ratios in California Acute Care Hospitals (2000)
For more information, please contact Joanne Spetz.