Nurses: Hospitals in 'Sneaky & Devious' Attack on New Patient Staffing Law

Contact: Jill Furillo, RN 916-417-6203 / Liz Jacobs, RN 510-435-7674

MEDIA ADVISORY For Immediate Release
December 30, 2003

Nurses: Hospitals in 'Sneaky & Devious' Attack on New Patient Staffing Law

Charging the California hospital industry with using every dubious tactic it could muster to sabotage the state's new hospital staffing law, the California Nurses Association termed the hospitals' latest court action another "sneaky and devious" maneuver to that end.

The nurse-to-patient staffing ratios which were promulgated pursuant to the enactment in 1999 of the Safe Staffing law are scheduled to go into effect on Thursday in all general acute-care hospitals in the state. On Tuesday, the California Hospital Association announced plans to ask a Sacramento County Superior Court to enjoin state authorities from enforcing the portion of the new CNA-sponsored nurse-to-patient law that requires compliance during breaks and meal times.

The hospital industry is asking the court to approve RNs going on breaks in circumstances that nonetheless leave hospital units in non-compliance with the ratios.

"It probably should have been expected,' said CNA President Deborah Burger, RN. "After all their other maneuvers to get around the ratios, they turn to the courts on New Years eve with a specious argument against the regulations that they could have - but chose not to - raise at anytime over the three years since the law was enacted. It's sneaky and devious."

CNA officials said today that the "at all times" language has been in the regulations since June, inserted there by the state Department of Health Services (DHS). It was done to align the new regulations with the provision covering lunches and breaks in the present staffing relations, which have applied to Intensive Care units since 1975.

CNA spokesperson Jill Furillo, RN said the effect of granting the CHA's request "would be to roll back the clock and change how ratios have worked for over 25 years in the ICU and Intensive Care Nurseries."

"The ratio regulations speak for themselves. They comply with the law as intended," said Burger. "Whether or not to leave a sick baby unit without what has been determined to be adequate staffing just because it's lunchtime is unconscionable. This is a serious matter for patient safety and public health."

Burger said CNA and its attorneys have every intention to being present in the courtroom to oppose any effort to scuttle any aspect of the new regulations. "The hospital industry should not be allowed to get away with this," she said.