Implications of the California nurse staffing mandate for other states.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To determine whether nurse staffing in California hospitals, where state-mandated minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are in effect, differs from two states without legislation and whether those differences are associated with nurse and patient outcomes.

Data sources

Primary survey data from 22,336 hospital staff nurses in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in 2006 and state hospital discharge databases.

Study design

Nurse workloads are compared across the three states and we examine how nurse and patient outcomes, including patient mortality and failure-to-rescue, are affected by the differences in nurse workloads across the hospitals in these states.

Principal findings

California hospital nurses cared for one less patient on average than nurses i

SUBMITTER: Aiken LH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2908200 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature