Only California has hospital nurse-to-patient staffing requirements.
In 2010, California is the only state to have laws regulating a minimum nurse-to-patient staffing requirement. The state has set ratios that hospitals and inpatient facilities must abide by. There are, however, 14 states including the District of Columbia that are enacting nurse staffing legislations to require hospitals to have nurse-to-patient staffing requirements.
1:6
High ratios of one nurse to six patients only occur in psychiatric hospitals and units. California's nurse-to-patient staffing requirement for psychiatric hospitals also prohibits hospitals from assigning an unlicensed person to do the work of a nurse.
1:5
Medical-Surgical units such as medical, surgical, telemetry and oncology all have a nurse-to-patient ratio of one to five. This nurse-to-patient ratios helps patients to have better outcomes while at the hospital. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, hospitals with low nurse staffing levels tend to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes, such as pneumonia, shock, cardiac arrest and urinary tract infections.
1:4
A one-to-four ratio is required in California for labor and delivery (also known as antepartum and postpartum) units as well as pediatrics, emergency rooms and other specialty care units, according to the Health Leaders Media website. In addition, the website states that a one-to-three patient ratio is required for step down units.
1:2
Intensive care units require the lowest ratio of nurses to patients. The intensive care units in California are required to have one nurse for every two patients. Title 22 also requires that half of the nurses working in the intensive care units be registered nurses.
Tags: care units, nurse-to-patient staffing, have nurse-to-patient, nurse staffing, nurse-to-patient staffing requirement, nurse-to-patient staffing requirements, psychiatric hospitals
