MINNEAPOLIS — Thousands of Minnesota nurses were heading back to work today after a one-day strike, still without a contract and with the same complaints of short-staffing that fueled a one-day walkout.

But the Minnesota Nurses Association believes it sent its message, spokesman John Nemo said.

"Absolutely, I think we achieved our goal by causing maximum impact on the hospitals with minimum impact on patients and the community," he said.

More than 12,000 nurses went on strike at 14 hospitals Thursday, primarily to demand increased staffing they say is needed to improve patient safety. The hospitals responded by bringing in extra nonunion staff, hiring 2,800 replacement nurses and reducing patient counts. Hospital officials reported no problems.

"The message has been delivered that our nurses are serious about the patient safety issue and that, hopefully, the hospitals will say to us 'message received' and they're ready to go back to the bargaining table," Nemo said.

Union leaders have said more job actions are possible if they can't reach a deal with the hospitals, but no new talks were scheduled.