Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. Introduction 1
5. Part I. California: Managed Care, Hospital Restructuring, 23 and the Ratio Response
6. 1. Hospital Restructuring and the Erosion of Nursing Care in California and the United States 25
7. 2. Not Out of Thin Air 47
8. 3. The Hospital Industry Response 58
9. 4. Ratios Redux 70
10. Part II. Australia: Nurses and Work Intensification 93 in Public Hospitals in Victoria—Context, Response, and Legacies
11. 5. Working Life for Nurses in the Late 1990s in Australia: A Snapshot 95
12. 6. How Did It Come to This? The Factors Driving the Intensification of Nursing Work 103
13. 7. Winning Ratios in Victoria 115
14. 8. Evaluating the Impact of Ratios: An Imperfect Experiment 148
15. Part III. Arguments and Alternatives
16. 9. What We Know about Nurse Staffing 181
17. 10. Arguments against and Alternatives to Ratios 198
18. Conclusion: Ratios and Beyond 224
19. Appendix: Decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on Nurse-to-Patient Ratios 239
20. Index 263
21. About the Authors 271