The Effect of a Hospital Nurse Staffing Mandate on Patient Health Outcomes: Evidence from California’s Minimum Staffing Regulation

Andrew Cook, Martin Gaynor, Melvin Stephens and Lowell Taylor

The Centre for Market and Public Organisation from The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of California Assembly Bill 394, which mandated maximum levels of patients per nurse in the hospital setting. When the law was passed, some hospitals already met the requirements, while others did not. Thus changes in staffing ratios from the pre- to post-mandate periods are driven in part by the legislation. We find persuasive evidence that AB394 had the intended effect of decreasing patient/nurse ratios in hospitals that previously did not meet mandated standards. However, these improvements in staffing ratios do not appear to be associated with relative improvements in measured patient safety in affected hospitals.

Keywords: Nursing; Staffing; Regulation; Outcomes; Hospitals; patient safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I11 I18 K2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2012-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

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Journal Article: The effect of a hospital nurse staffing mandate on patient health outcomes: Evidence from California's minimum staffing regulation (2012)
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