Table 2.
Percentage of Nurses Reporting Patient Assignments at or below California Benchmark Levels, by Specialty, in California (CA), New Jersey (NJ), and Pennsylvania (PA)
| Mean Patients per Shift (Nurse Sample Size) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit Type | Patient/Nurse Workload Mandated by California Legislation | CA (%) | NJ (%) | PA (%) |
| Medical–surgical | 5:1 | 88a,b | 19b | 33 |
| Pediatric | 4:1 | 85a,b | 52 | 66 |
| Intensive care units | 2:1 | 85a,b | 63b | 71 |
| Telemetry | 5:1 | 93a,b | 35b | 52 |
| Oncology | 5:1 | 90a,b | 29b | 55 |
| Psychiatric | 6:1 | 81a,b | 56b | 42 |
| Labor/delivery | 3:1 | 94a,b | 88 | 89 |
Notes. Sample sizes for each specialty in each state are given in Table 1.
Intensive care units include adult, neonatal, and pediatric intensive care units.
a
Significantly different from New Jersey at p<.05.
b
Significantly different from Pennsylvania at p<.05.