The American Society of Registered Nurses (ASRN.org) released the results of a survey this week looking at the reaction of RNs to the nurse staffing ratio law in California. In the article linked here, the authors say they asked 761 registered nurses questions on how the nurse to patient ratios in that state have affected their workplace.

The responses showed 56% believed they had more time to take a break during their workday and 69% thought the improved patient ratios have given them more opportunity to provide personal care for their patients. This seems to match up with the statements made by California Nurses Association President, Zenei Cortez in the recent interview here on the Nursing Show.

Nurse staffing ratios have become a big issue since the California law went into effect with nurses in many states attempting to pass similar laws. To date those bills have failed to pass and the article points out that in the other 49 states, it is legal for nurses to be assigned 10 or even 15 patients by hospital administrators and nursing supervisors.

This issue is not so cut and dried, though. With nursing staff shortages nationwide, where would the additional nurses come from in the short term as facilities competed with each other to maintain minimum legal staffing levels. California’s law caused a workforce shift of nurses into that state from other parts of the country as hospitals scrambled to attract enough nurses to meet legal requirements. What happens when these laws are more widespread and there are fewer nurses than ever to go around?

Don’t get me wrong. I think that competition is good for the nursing workforce as it will continue to push demand and wages higher for all of us, but in the short term — if these laws gain widespread acceptance, how can we expect facilities to comply with an impossible legal requirement?

Take a gallon bucket and a half gallon of water. You can require me to fill the bucket under the law, but if you don’t give me more water, there will be no way for me to fill that bucket no matter what the law says.

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