Calls for Safe Staffing Grow Louder
CALLS FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE SAFE STAFFING FOR QUALITY CARE ACTCONTINUES TO GROW LOUDER AS STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT COME IN FROM TOP NEW YORK ORGANIZATIONSNew York State Trial Lawyers Association, The League Of Women Voters Of New York State, The New York Public Interest Research Group, The New York State AFL-CIO, And District Council 37- All Authored LettersNew York- Calls for the passage of the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act continues to grow louder asstatements of support come in from theNew York State Trial Lawyers Association, the League of Women Voters of New York State, the New York Public Interest Research Group, the New York State AFL- CIO, and District Council 37.
The Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act is a bipartisan bill in the State Legislature with wide support thatcalls on hospitals to maintain a responsible number of nurses to patients -99 members of the State Assembly and 32 members of the State Senate are now sponsors.
New York is facing a staffing crisis in hospitals across the state. Nurses are being forced to care for more patients by hospital administrators who are pushing nurses and patients to the limit. In fact, most New Yorkers are unaware that there isn't a law that currently exists that places a limit to how many patients one nurse can care for at one time.
In some cases, nurses in New York are being forced to handle over a dozen patients at one time. When that happens, patients suffer. Studies show the risk of patient death increases by 7% for each new patient a nurse must care for at one time.
"The list of supporters of the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act continues to grow for good reason - this is common sense legislation that will save lives and improve patient outcomes. There is currently no law limiting how many patients a nurse can care for at one time which is an alarming lapse in patient safety. It's time we legislate safe nurse-to-patient standards to ensure nurses have all the tools they need to provide the best quality care possible," said Mario Cilento, President of the New York State AFL-CIO.
“Studies show that the more patients nurses have under their care, the higher the riskof infections, complications, and even death. It's time for lawmakers to establish safe staffing standards in New York hospitals to make sure that New Yorkers are receiving the quality care they deserve,” said Jill Furillo, Executive Director of the New York State Nurses Association.
The New York State Trial Lawyers Association letter of support states, “The need for a nursing workforce appropriate in size and expertise is literally a matter of life and death.”
In the New York Public Interest Research Group's letter of support, NYPIRG urges the legislature's support for the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act due to the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of safe staffing standards.
The League of Women Voters of New York State stated, "This new legislation provides for better patient outcomes because of increased patient safety.It provides for lower costs for hospital and nursing home facilities as there will be lower rates of incidents; thus lowering medical malpractice incidents.”
“The measures proposed in this bill have proven successful elsewhere. After becoming the first state to mandate nurse staffing ratios in hospitals, California saw a significant improvement in results for both patients and staff,” stated District Council 37.
This is a crisis that can be easily fixed. Hospitals need to have enough staff to give patients the care they need and deserve.
Thelegislation will save lives by ensuring that there are an adequatenumber of nurses at the bedside of patients inside New York hospitals. Among other things, this legislation will:
- Establish safe nurse to patient standards for nurses in units at all New York hospitals.
- Require hospitals to staff units using nurses that are trained for care in that unit. For example, nurses in the ER should be trainedin ER care.
- Require hospitals to be more transparent about their staffing levels.
- Set a maximum number of patients a nurse is responsible for at any given time.
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TheNYS Campaign for Patient Safetyis a coalition of consumer, labor, patient advocacy and community organizations committed to fighting forthe highest quality patient care for New York's hospital and nursing home patients.We believe one of the most critical aspects of ensuring quality patient care is implementing minimum standards for how many patients a single nurse can treat at one time. That's why we are supporting the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. To learn more, please check out our website:www.campaignforpatientsafety.org