- Minimum nurse staffing levels have been in effect in California critical care units for over 30 years
- Minimum nurse staffing levels throughout all hospital units have been in effect for nearly 2 ½ years
- No hospital has closed because of these limits during this time and they are working just fine according the state health officials and other observers:
". . . there seems to be no negative impact on the healthcare system…Our data shows that hospitals have been able to meet the lower ratios"
Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, Calif. Health and Human Services Agency
As reported, New York Times, Friday, November 11, LA Times, Saturday November 12“hospitals had to follow the new rules and discovered they were not as burdensome as they had feared”
LA Times, November 12, 2005“We had 10 months of experience with the court-mandated ratios and there seems to be no negative impact on the healthcare system. Our data shows that hospitals have been able to meet the lower ratios,”
Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, spokeswoman, (California) Health and Human Services Agency
Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2005
- Passage of the law has brought nurses back to hospital bedside care and increased the number of those entering the profession:
- The number of actively licensed RNs in California increased by more than 60,000 following enactment of the staffing ratio law, from 246,068 as of June 30, 1999 to 306,140 as of December 30, 2005. (Board of Registered Nursing data)
- Since the ratio law was signed, the number of actively licensed RNs has grown by nearly 10,000 a year, compared to just 3,200 a year prior to the law. (BRN data). At the time the law was passed, the BRN was predicting the annual increase would be just 2,000 a year in the coming years.
- The increase in the number of actively licensed RNs in California was almost seven times more than the total number state health officials said would be needed for the ratios for general medical/surgical units.
- A sharp reversal in the trend of RNs entering and leaving California.
- Big gains in the number of new graduate and foreign trained applicants who take and pass the RN exam and become new licensees each year in California.
- A 60% increase in RN applications in the years following enactment of the law.
- Many of California’s biggest hospital systems, including Kaiser Permanente, Catholic Healthcare West, and University of California have had enormous success in hiring new RNs over the past two years—and seen their turnover and vacancy rates fall below 5%.The national average ranges from about 15%–25%.
“
