R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-17.17-8: Annual hospital staffing report.

(a) Annually in the month of January, every licensed hospital shall submit to the Rhode Island department of health, its core-staffing plan. Such plan shall specify for each patient care unit and each shift, the number of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and/or certified nursing assistants who shall ordinarily be assigned to provide direct patient care and the average number of patients upon which such staffing levels are based.

(b) For the purposes of this section:

(1) “Core-staffing plan” shall mean the projected complement of nonmanagerial nursing staff that shall be assigned on each shift to a specified patient care unit.

(2) “Nonmanagerial nursing staff” shall mean registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and/or certified nursing assistants who perform nonmanagerial direct patient care functions for more than fifty percent (50%) of their scheduled hours on a given patient care unit.

(3) “Patient care unit” shall mean a designated area for assigning patients and staff for which discrete budget and staffing plans exist.