Oregon nurse staffing law: is it working?

In 2001, Oregon enacted a law mandating the creation of hospital nurse staffing committees to oversee staffing in acute care hospitals. The study design is a descriptive case study (qualitative method) using semistructured interviews and focus groups to assess the law requiring hospital nurse staffing committees to monitor nurse staffing in Oregon. One significant theme of the study was the wide variation among facilities in the way the staffing legislation is viewed, interpreted, understood, appreciated, and implemented.