Is this legislative effective to support a positive nursing work environment?
To provide safe and efficient patient care, the staffing ratios has been mandated. In 1999, California developed into the first state to mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals. The California legislature passed Assembly Bill ( AB 394) after years of comprehensive press for political action enforced by the nursing representative unions, including the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the Service Employees International Union ( SEIU). Their goal concerns about patient 's safety and the interrelation between increased nurse workforce and improved patient outcomes ( McHugh, Carthon, Sloane, Wu, Kelly, & Aiken, 2012). In January 2004, California Department of Health Services (DHS) organize the concluding revision of a …show more content…
This legislation was focused on establishing a licensed nurses classification to include both registered nurses (RNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs). The regulation of AB 394 particularized staffing ratios for distinctive unit like for example in medical-surgical wards were agreed at one individual licensed nurse for each five patients except for the specialized unit like intensive care unit, NICU, emergency triage, and critical care unit hospital must be in compliance to mandate patient safety. Supporting AB 394, minimal nurse-to-patient ratios have emerged in excelling licensed nurse staffing ( Donaldson & Shapiro 2010; McHugh et al., 2011). The benefits of improved nurse staffing would help from high patient satisfaction and safeties, better working quality, which would in turn lower the numbers of nurses quitting hospital positions and the