Browse Research Publications

  • Commuting of registered nurses (RNs) has important implications for nursing shortages. A county or region might have a large number of resident RNs, but if many of those RNs work in a different county or region, employers in the region of residence might perceive a shortage. California’s counties...
  • As California faces workforce shortages and geographic mal-distribution in many of the health care professions, policy makers are looking to expanding educational programs, rethinking practice models and improving recruitment and retention efforts among existing and new pools of workers. One...
  • In 1999, California passed the first legislation in the United States to establish minimum staffing levels for licensed nurses in hospitals. Implementation of the regulation began in 2004. This article examines whether nurses who work in hospitals in California have perceived improvements in their...
  • Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are registered nurses who are prepared beyond initial nursing education in an NP program to provide primary care directly to patients. NP educational requirements, certification mechanisms and legal scopes of practice are decided at the state level and vary considerably....
  • Physician supply in the U.S. is again on the national health policy agenda. A central issue in this debate is the availability of physicians willing to work in underserved and disadvantaged communities-an issue closely linked to the number of minority and international medical graduate (IMG)...
  • Forecasting the supply and demand of the nursing workforce is crucial to understanding the short and long term needs for nurses in California and for identifying strategies for addressing future shortages. This presentation discusses several forecasting methods and presents data for the 2007...
  • This report presents supply and demand forecasts for the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce in California from 2007 through 2030. These forecasts are based on data from the 2006 California Board of Registered Nursing Survey of Registered Nurses, the US Bureau of Health Professions 2004 National Sample...
  • The biennial California Survey of Registered Nurses provides information about the demographics, education, and employment of registered nurses in the state.
  • This presentation takes a look at the complex reality of nursing workforce planning. For example, policy makers often lack the expertise as well as concrete research to make positive decisions. Even if programs are approved they may not be funded due to a state’s budget crisis.
  • This presentation explains different approaches to calculate and forecast “demand”: from the overly simplified “per capita” model, to the non-normative market demand and a “need” assessment model. Suggested ways to improve forecasting include not looking at one workforce group in isolation and...
  • Forecasting the health workforce is crucial to understanding whether perceived shortages are real, to learn whether a shortage is likely to persist, and to guide policy to educate and retain health workers. This presentation provides strategies for forecasting workforce supply and demand and...
  • The 2006 Survey of California Registered Nurses is the fifth in a series of surveys designed to describe licensed nurses in California and to examine changes over time. Other studies were completed in 1990, 1993, 1997, and 2004. The survey solicited information about: Opinions about the most...
  • Information from California’s professional and vocational education programs are a key link in estimating the supply of workers for individual health professions. The principal objective of this project is to map the “education link” in California’s supply chain for selected health professions....
  • Registered Dental Hygienists (RDHs) play a critical role in efforts to promote access to oral health care and prevent dental diseases. The heightened attention on the nation's oral health needs and growing disparities in oral health, as well as pending revisions in federal procedures for...
  • Despite evidence that hospital use of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) declined in the 1990s, the current registered nurse (RN) shortage has prompted interest in LPNs as substitutes for RNs. Hospitals, being the dominant employer of RNs, have an economic incentive to use less expensive LPNs as...
  • In most regions of California, there is now a shortage of registered nurses, and shortages will grow over the next 25 years. This report presents forecasts of supply and demand for RNs in regions of California. A previous report estimated future supply and demand for RNs statewide, finding a...
  • The workforce providing noninstitutional personal assistance and home health services tripled between 1989 and 2004, according to U.S. survey data, growing at a much faster rate than the population needing such services. During the same period, Medicaid spending for such services increased...
  • LPNs may be able to help fill some of the gaps caused by the nursing shortage, but little research has been conducted on the demographic characteristics of LPNs, their education and scope of practice, and the demand for their services, all of which vary from state to state. In 2002 and 2003, the...
  • A poor public "image" of the nurse is believed to contribute to nurse shortages. We surveyed more than 3,000 college students in science and math courses in a seven-county region of California's Central Valley to assess their perceptions of a career as a nurse in relation to a career as a physical...
  • OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of changes in relative health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration on changes in the physician-to-population ratio in California counties when changes in the economic conditions in California counties relative to the U.S. average are taken into account. DATA...
  • During a labor shortage, employment-based benefits can be used to recruit and retain workers. This paper provides data on the availability of benefits to registered nurses (RNs), reports on how health care leaders are approaching the provision of employment-based benefits for nurses, and considers...
  • As the U.S. experiences a rapid aging of the nation's population, with the number of Americans age 65 and over doubling between 2000 and 2030, the demand for long-term care will rise significantly. The nation faces critical shortages in the health care workforce, particularly among direct...
  • This chapter of the 25th volume of the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics reviews key issues associated with the aging registered nurse workforce, particularly challenges of ensuring an adequate supply of nurses in the future.
  • Driven by the aging population and the efficacy of drug therapy in the management of chronic disease, the increased use of pharmaceutical products has become the fastest growing, most dynamic part of the health care system. This issue brief finds the pharmacy safety net facing a looming crisis. The...
  • The objective of the study was to produce a report to inform the health professions educational community, the health care community, and the public about issues related to the clinical laboratory workforce. Research questions addressed the size of the workforce, demographic characteristics, role...
  • High vacancy rates in the clinical laboratory profession have led to the use of wage increases and financial incentives to attract and retain workers. American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) surveys indicate that wages for Medical Technologists and Medical Laboratory Technicians have been...
  • In most regions of California, there is now a shortage of registered nurses, and shortages will grow over the next 25 years. This report presents forecasts of supply and demand for RNs in regions of California and finds a current and widening gap between the supply of and demand for RNs through at...
  • Advocates have pressed for legislation mandating improvements in nurse staffing for at least a decade. Recent research publications have established a strong link between nurse staffing and the quality of patient care. These studies suggest that legislation that increases nurse staffing has the...
  • The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Health Professions contracted with the University of California at San Francisco Center for the Health Professions to conduct a study of the clinical laboratory workforce. The...
  • The author examines the history and early implementation of specific minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in all units of acute-care hospitals in California. After reviewing preliminary forecasts of the effects of the ratios, the effects of the regulations in the first few months of their implementation...

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