Bringing Equity Into Quality Improvement
A decade after the Institute of Medicine focused national attention on quality in health care, robust resources and strategies exist to help organizations strive toward five domains of quality: safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, and efficient care. There has been much less progress in the…
California's Minimum Nurse Staffing Legislation: Results from a Natural Experiment
Objective To determine whether, following implementation of California’s minimum nurse staffing legislation, changes in acuity-adjusted nurse staffing and quality of care in California hospitals outpaced similar changes in hospitals in comparison states without such regulations.
Data Sources/…
Predictors of Students' Success in Community College Nursing Programs
Many conceptual models have been applied in the investigation of college retention of nursing students. We tested a model that specifies four general constructs as predictors of student success in nursing education-dispositional factors, career value factors, situational factors, and institutional…
The Nursing Workforce: a Comparison of Three National Surveys
The termination of the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) represents a loss of a key source of information on the nursing workforce that has been available for more than 30 years. At the same time, this loss presents new opportunities to address some of the biases associated with…
Envisioning Enhanced Roles for In-Home Supportive Services Workers in Care Coordination for Consumers with Chronic Conditions: A Concept Paper
This concept paper explores the feasibility of creating opportunities for IHSS workers to play enhanced roles in providing care to their clients and to earn higher wages for fulfilling these roles. Currently there are no training requirements for personal care aides in California, and very few…
Nursing Testimony Before Congress, 1993-2011
This article describes nurses' testimony before congressional committees between 1993 and 2011. We address three questions: (a) How have trends in nurses' testimony changed over time? (b) What do data reveal about nursing's engagement with health policy issues on the congressional agenda? (c) How…
Bridging the Divide Between Leadership Development and Organizational Outcomes
The Clinic Leadership Institute (CLI) Emerging Leaders program helps participants become stronger leaders in community health centers throughout California. But how exactly do the learnings from a structured leadership program translate to the unpredictability and complexity of the day-to-day work…
Survey of Nurse Employers in California, Spring 2012
This report summarizes the findings of a survey conducted in spring 2012 of Chief Nursing Officers at general acute care hospitals in California, to evaluate the overall demand for RNs in the state. The survey reveals variation in the demand for RNs across California, the lack of positions…
The Labour Market for Human Resources for Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
All low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have health worker labour markets. Some of these countries’ markets function better than others and all can be improved. What does it mean when experts say there is a “shortage” of health workers? Is there more than one definition…
Editorial: Oral Health
The Institute of Medicine has called for nurses to play a greater role in oral health. Nurses often provide care for the vulnerable populations that are least likely to receive necessary, health-sustaining dental care. The link between mouth care, oral health and systemic health is well…
The Virtual Dental Home: Implications for Policy and Strategy
Widely recognized problems with the U.S. health care system, including rapidly increasing costs and disparities in access and outcomes also exist in oral health. If oral health systems are to meet the "Triple Aim" of improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and…
On the Road to Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records: A Survey of California Physicians
Report on findings from a 2011 survey of a sample of California physicians regarding the availability of electronic health records in their practices.
Preparing the Clinic Leaders of Tomorrow - The Clinic Leadership Institute Emerging Leaders Program
California’s community clinics require strong, committed leaders who can navigate their organizations through an increasingly complex healthcare system and meet the needs of their diverse patient populations. Clinics are facing considerable pressure to adapt to changes brought on by the passage of…
Patient Turnover as a Moderator of the Relationship between Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes
High patient turnover (patient throughput generated by admissions, discharges, and transfers) contributes to increased demands and resources for care. We examined how the relationship between registered nurse (RN) staffing and failure-to-rescue (FTR) varied with patient turnover levels by analyzing…
San Francisco Quality Culture Series: Transforming Leadership Teams Across the San Francisco Safety Net
The San Francisco Quality Culture Series (SFQCS) was as a year-long collaborative learning program for clinic leadership teams aimed at building their improvement capacity and skills as leaders of dynamic primary care practices. Twenty-one clinic teams completed the program, which ran from January…
The Effect of Different Methods of Remuneration on the Behaviour of Primary Care Dentists
Objective: To evaluate the effects of different methods of remuneration on the professional behaviour of primary care dentists and associated patient outcomes.
Full Publication
The Diversity of California’s Registered Nursing Workforce
The ability of California Registered Nurses (RNs) to provide culturally competent care to Californians is associated with the language skills and diversity of the RN workforce. Moreover, diversity in the RN profession reflects progress in providing opportunities for young people to obtain…
Immigration and Contract Problems Experienced by Foreign-Educated Nurses
More than 8% of employed RNs licensed since 2004 in the United States were educated overseas, yet little is known about the conditions of their recruitment or the impact of that experience on health care practice. This study assessed whether the labor rights of foreign-educated nurses were at risk…
Survey of Nurse Employers in California, Fall 2012
This report summarizes the findings of a survey conducted in fall 2011 of general acute care hospital employers of registered nurses (RNs) in California. This survey is the second of three annual surveys, with the last survey scheduled for fall 2012. Together, these surveys provide an opportunity…
What Determines Successful Implementation of Inpatient Information Technology Systems?
OBJECTIVES: To identify the factors and strategies that were associated with successful implementation of hospital-based information technology (IT) systems in US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, and how these might apply to other hospitals.
STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative…
Nursing Education Data Sources: A User’s Guide
This Brief reviews the main sources of data stakeholders at the national and state level can use to measure education levels among RNs. Each data source is described, with attention to the population of nurses or nursing graduates it represents. Nuances and shortcomings of the data are discussed to…
Health Reform and the Health Care Workforce
This monograph assesses how the Affordable Care Act will influence the demand for health care workers, as well as the nature of care they provide.
Full Publication
Health Care Workforce Will be Tested by Reform
Much of the public discussion about health care reform has focused on whether various components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are constitutional, and whether the act can be repealed. But an arguably more important question is whether our health care work force is large enough to handle the…
Professional Projects and Institutional Change in Healthcare: The Case of American Dentistry
This paper combines resources from the organization studies and sociology literatures to advance understanding of institutional change processes in health care that emerge from the professionalization projects of occupations. Conceptually, we introduce a model that combines the 'archetype' approach…
Comparison of Patient Outcomes in Magnet and Non-Magnet Hospitals
OBJECTIVE: This study compared patient outcomes and staffing in Magnet® and non-Magnet hospitals.
BACKGROUND: The pursuit of Magnet designation is a highly regarded program for improving staff and patient outcomes. Research has confirmed that Magnet hospitals provide positive work…
2010 Survey of Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives
This survey of nurse practitioners and nurse midwives in California provided information about education, employment, demographics, and the practice of these important advanced practice nurses.
2010 Survey of Clinical Nurse Specialists
This survey of clinical nurse specialists in California provided information about education, employment, demographics, and the practice of these important advanced practice nurses.
Registered Dental Hygienists in Alternative Practice In California, 2009 Descriptive Report
New workforce models in dentistry are being explored as potential solutions to improving the dental care delivery system for underserved populations. In 1998, California officially recognized a new dental health profession: the Registered Dental Hygienist in Alternative Practice (RDHAP).…
Forecasts of the Registered Nurse Workforce in California, 2011
This report presents supply and demand forecasts for the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce in California from 2011 through 2030. These new forecasts are based on data from the 2010 California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) Survey of Registered Nurses, the US Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr)…
California’s Health Care Workforce: Readiness for the ACA Era
This comprehensive report, sponsored by the California Wellness Foundation, explores the current and future capacity of California’s health care workforce to meet the expected increase in demand resulting from expanded insurance coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).…
