What can be done?

This time it's all about my ideas......no references here. I think that California has started in the right direction with a mandated nurse patient ratio, but I am not sure that this is enough. We need to create an atmosphere that encourages nurses to stay, that fosters professional development.
We need to encourage education. I believe that we need to move to at least a bachelor's educated nurse level - but not all at once. The diploma and associate degree registered nurses are integral parts of the field. I believe that legislature should be passed to make it necessary to have a bachelor's degree within 5 years of entering the workforce (or 5 years of the passage of the law). I said no references, but some studies have shown that there were fewer patient complications when patients were taken care of by bachelor level nurses versus diploma or associate level.
Get rid of mandatory overtime. For a lot of nurses (and ancillary staff) this is a major bone of contention. More than taking them away from their families, friends and lives, it adds to the pressures of their jobs - both physically and mentally and speeds up any burnout that might occur.
Working together to increase staffing levels where possible and where not possible working together to ensure that the assignments are evenly distributed according to ability. Meaning - you have 4 nurses for 40 patients and 4 vented patients but 2 of your nurses are brand new, just out of school and the other 2 are veterans with 10 or 15 years under their belts. It may mean a little more work for the veterans, but ultimately better and safer patient care for them to split the vents and show the new nurses what to do. This is fostering growth and the next time, these nurses will be able to handle the cases. The new nurses will appreciate this and remember it when it comes their turn to teach down the road.
Increase numbers of teachers teaching in nursing schools. The problem with enrollment in nursing school is not that there are not enough qualified applicants, it is that there are not enough qualified professors willing to do the work! To me, it is a sad state of affairs when you can make more money doing the job than you can being the professor. We need to encourage colleges and universities to have the salaries of the professors competitive with the hospitals in their areas. This would then draw otherwise hesitant "professors" encouraged to join the ranks, enhancing enrollment, enhancing the ranks of the registered nurse!
There is the idea that we could move to a universal healthcare provider. This would decrease administrative costs by almost 30% thus opening these monies up to my next idea which is....
Then there is always hire, hire, hire! Hire RNs, LPNs, and UAPs and make the mix appropriate to the mix of patients.