TOUGHER NURSE-PATIENT RATIOS DELAYED UNTIL 2008.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Responding to the concerns of hospital operators, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration announced Thursday that it will delay requiring tougher nurse-to-patient ratios due to take effect Jan. 1 until 2008.

Under state legislation approved before Schwarzenegger took office, California became the first state in the nation this January to require that each nurse in medical-surgical units oversee no more than six patients at all times. The ratio would have decreased to one nurse for every five patients in January 2005, but the Department of Health Services put the requirement on hold while it conducts a lengthy study on the effects of the current ratio.

``Since we're the first, we have an obligation to monitor the effect they're having,'' said Brenda Klutz, deputy director of licensing and certification programs for the DHS. ``We feel the vast majority of the effect has been positive. The reason was to provide safe minimums for patient care, but we're also hearing some basic signs and symptoms that require us to slow down.''

A shortage of nurses to serve nearly 450 hospitals throughout the state has led to the closure of hospitals, emergency rooms and psychiatric wards, Klutz said, as well as made it difficult for home health care facilities to recruit staffers. She said the department received 78 complaints in the past year of facilities not meeting ratios, leading to 28 investigations and 15 rulings of deficiency. Once a facility earns the deficient rating, it must work with the DHS to craft a plan to add staffers to meet the ratios.

The hospital industry reacted favorably to the news that the current ratio will hold for three more years. Providence Health System, which has 1,100 nurses spread among its hospitals in Mission Hills and Burbank and various facilities throughout the San Fernando Valley, welcomed more time to comply with the more stringent regulations.

``That would be excellent,'' said Brian Greene, a spokesman for Providence Holy Cross Medical Center and Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. ``We always staff our hospitals at a safe level to begin with and the ratios have been difficult to work with at times. It will give us a lot more flexibility.''

However, the California Nurses Association, a professional association and union representing 60,000 workers, which sponsored the law requiring the ratios, responded angrily to the decision. The group's president, registered nurse Deborah Burger, said the small number of deficient ratings among a large pool of hospitals indicated that the ratios weren't as onerous as business groups have claimed.

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com