-
The Growth of For-Profit Colleges in California: Impacts on the Health Professions
07-31-14
The growth of for-profit postsecondary institutions in the US has been the focus of several national studies, media reports, and legislative activity in recent years. Concerns have been raised about the role these schools – especially two-year, private colleges – play in training the country’s...
-
Non-White Students Make up the Majority of Californians Pursuing Health Care Education
07-31-14
This issue brief explores two related phenomena: growth in the number of non-White students pursuing health professions-related education, and the role played by private for-profit institutions play in their training. Growth in the number of healthcare-related degrees and certificates is associated...
-
Diversity in California’s Mental Health Workforce and Education Pipeline
07-31-14
Current data suggest that segments of California’s mental health care workforce are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. The psychology profession continues to be a predominantly White workforce, but counselors and social workers are more reflective of California’s diverse population....
-
Direct Access to Midlevel Dental Providers: An Evidence Synthesis
06-20-14
Objectives: Direct access is a term that describes the ability of patients to seek health care from midlevel dental providers (MLDPs) without first seeing a dentist. The objective of this study was to synthesize the evidence for the effects and costs of direct access to MLDPs in a primary dental...
-
Survey of Nurses’ Educational Experiences, 2013
06-10-14
California registered nurses were surveyed to learn their experiences with obtaining post-licensure education, and their interest in pursuing additional education.
-
Calling All Doctors: What Type of Insurance Do You Accept?
06-01-14
Editorial accompanying an article on an audit study of physicians' acceptance of new patients with Medicaid and private health insurance.
Full Publication
-
Beyond Pediatrics: Maintaining Oral Health Across the Lifespan
06-01-14
Oral health is directly related to systemic health, yet many Americans have limited to no access to dental health professionals. Nurse practitioners are in an excellent position to fill this void by providing caries risk assessments, chemical therapy to prevent progression of caries, and...
-
What Do Health Care Unions Do? A Response to Manthous
05-01-14
In response to Manthous, we discuss the role of unions in health care. The ethical quandary that Manthous perceives in health care worker unions is overstated because patient and worker interests are frequently aligned. The search for a "selfless" union overlooks the importance of adequate...
-
Medical Laboratory Technicians in California: Expanding Hospital Lab Capacity
04-22-14
UCSF researchers find that medical laboratory technicians (MLTs) are being integrated into laboratory staff at California hospitals with good results. This one-page document provides a summary of the full report and offers recommendations for more fully tapping MLT potential.
-
The Effect of Health Information Technology Implementation in Veterans Health Administration Hospitals on Patient Outcomes
03-01-14
The impact of health information technology (HIT) in hospitals is dependent in large part on how it is used by nurses. This study examines the impact of HIT on the quality of care in hospitals in the Veterans Health Administration (VA), focusing on nurse-sensitive outcomes from 1995 to 2005.
Full...
-
California Board of Registered Nursing 2012-2013 Annual School Report: Data Summary for Pre-Licensure Nursing Programs
02-18-14
Development of the 2012-2013 Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) School Survey was the work of the Board's Education Issues Workgroup, which consists of nursing education stakeholders from across California. A list of workgroup members is included in the Appendices. The University of California, San...
-
Shaking Up the Dental Safety-Net: Elimination of Optional Adult Dental Medicaid Benefits in California
02-01-14
Center Researchers Beth Mertz and Cynthia Wides published this article in the February 2014 Supplemental Issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. This issue celebrates the 25th year of the journal's publication and focuses on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act....
-
Building Leadership among Laboratory-based and Clinical and Translational Researchers: the University of California, San Francisco Experience
02-01-14
In 2005 the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) implemented the Scientific Leadership and Management (SLM) course, a 2-day leadership training program to assist laboratory-based postdoctoral scholars in their transition to independent researchers managing their own research programs. In...
-
Economics of Health Care and Nursing: How Will Health Reform Affect Demand for RNs?
01-30-14
This is a complex question to answer, but recent work published by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies tries to quantify the effect of the ACA. The report by Frogner and Spetz (2013) shows about one-third of the projected increase in RN demand will be derived from the impact of the...
-
Impact of the 2010 Affordable Care Act on the California Labor Force
01-26-14
A microsimulation model was developed to assess insurance enrollment growth in California due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, increased demand for health services resulting from increased insurance enrollment, and resulting growth in the demand for health care workers.
Full...
-
Identifying Potential Predictors of a Safe Attending Physician Workload: A Survey of Hospitalists
11-11-13
Attending physician workload may be compromising patient safety and quality of care. Recent studies show hospitalists, intensivists, and surgeons report that excessive attending physician workload has a negative impact on patient care.1–3 Because physician teams and hospitals differ in composition...
-
Scope-of-Practice Laws for Nurse Practitioners Limit Cost Savings that can be Achieved in Retail Clinics
11-01-13
Retail clinics have the potential to reduce health spending by offering convenient, low-cost access to basic health care services. Retail clinics are often staffed by nurse practitioners (NPs), whose services are regulated by state scope-of-practice regulations. By limiting NPs’ work scope,...
-
Policy Solutions to Address the Foreign-Educated and Foreign-Born Health Care Workforce in the United States
11-01-13
Foreign-educated and foreign-born health workers constitute a sizable and important portion of the US health care workforce. We review the distribution of these workers and their countries of origin, and we summarize the literature concerning their contributions to US health care. We also report on...
-
Baccalaureate Education in Nursing and Patient Outcomes
11-01-13
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of registered nurse (RN) education by determining whether nurse-sensitive patient outcomes were better in hospitals with a higher proportion of RNs with baccalaureate degrees.
BACKGROUND: The Future of Nursing report recommends increasing...
-
Affordable Care Act of 2010: Creating Job Opportunities for Racially and Ethnically Diverse Populations
10-17-13
The health care industry has been an engine of job growth, and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) is expected to stimulate further growth. Over the next decade, the health care sector could add 4.6 million jobs, representing a 31% increase from current employment. New job opportunities from...
-
The Diversity of California’s Registered Nursing Workforce – 2013 Update
10-09-13
Multiple data sources were analyzed to provide detailed information about the diversity of California’s registered nurse workforce and to develop projections of future diversity.
-
California Board of Registered Nursing 2012 Survey of Registered Nurses
10-06-13
The biennial California Survey of Registered Nurses provides information about the demographics, education, and employment of registered nurses in the state.
-
Medical Assistants in California: Legal Scope of Practice
09-23-13
This summary covers current (as of Sept 2013) scope of practice for medical assistants (MAs) in the state of California. In California, MAs are unlicensed personnel who work in physician (MD), podiatrist (DPM), or optometrist (OD) offices; and clinics. MAs may not work for inpatient care in...
-
Is a Baccalaureate in Nursing Worth It? The Return to Education, 2000-2008
09-15-13
Objective
A registered nurse (RN) license can be obtained by completing a baccalaureate degree (BSN), an associate degree (AD), or a diploma program. The aim of this article is to examine the return to baccalaureate education from the perspective of the nurse.
Data Sources
National Sample Survey...
-
Creating a Dashboard to Track Progress Toward IOM Recommendations for the Future of Nursing
08-10-13
This article explains the process used to identify and develop a set of data used to track national progress toward the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine Committee for the Future of Nursing. The data are presented in a dashboard format to visually summarize information and quickly...
-
Using Minimum Nurse Staffing Regulations to Measure the Relationship Between Nursing and Hospital Quality of Care
08-01-13
This study tests whether changes in licensed nurse staffing led to changes in patient safety, using the natural experiment of 2004 California implementation of minimum staffing ratios. We calculated counts of six patient safety outcomes from California Patient Discharge Data from 2000 through 2006...
-
Patient-Centered Medical Home Model: Do School-Based Health Centers Fit the Model?
08-01-13
School-based health centers (SBHCs) are an important component of health care reform. The SBHC model of care offers accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, and compassionate care to infants, children, and adolescents. These same elements comprise the patient-centered...
-
Demand for Temporary Agency Nurses and Nursing Shortages
08-01-13
There is an ongoing debate about the reasons for the growth of temporary employment of registered nurses (RNs). Some argue that efficiency incentives to increase flexibility and reduce labor costs are the principal cause, while others point to shortages of RNs as the stronger determinant. Using...
-
Charting the Course: Career Paths Among Emerging Health Center Leaders
07-30-13
California’s community health centers face numerous challenges amidst a vast, complex and rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. Chief among these challenges is the need to adapt to changes in the healthcare system resulting from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and remain solvent and...
-
Forecasts of the Registered Nurse Workforce in California, 2013
07-24-13
This report presents supply and demand forecasts for the Registered Nurse (RN) workforce in California from 2013 through 2030. These new forecasts are based on data from the 2012 California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) Survey of Registered Nurses, the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr)...