Roseville’s two hospitals fully staffed

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Friday, January 09, 2004

Roseville’s two hospitals fully staffed

By Sarah Langford


Due to careful planning and foresight, Roseville’s two hospitals entered the New Year in full compliance with a challenging new law that lowers the nurse-to-patient ratio in hospitals across California.

Both Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente were fully prepared when the law requiring there be one nurse to every six patients in the general medical-surgical unit of hospitals became effective Jan. 1.

AB 394 is the first law in the nation to require specific nurse-to-patient ratios for every unit of a hospital, and was signed by former governor Gray Davis in 1999.

Barbara Nelson, chief of nursing at Sutter Roseville, said the hospital has been working hard for the last several years on retaining and recruiting new nurses.

“While most things are running quite smoothly, I would say the most challenging part of the new law is the ‘at all times’ requirement,” Nelson said. “The ratios must be in place around the clock, and as a result there has been less flexibility in breaks and lunches.”

According to Sandy Sharon, nursing executive at the Roseville hospital, the law taking effect in the midst of the flu season has added to the challenge of meeting it.

“A number of our own staff has been out with the flu,” Sharon said. “We’ve had managers providing lunch and break relief when we are short-staffed.”

Kaiser currently employs 445 registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses at its Roseville hospital. There are 550 at Sutter.

Cinde Breedlove, a spokesperson for Kaiser in greater Sacramento, said there is no current plan to admit fewer patients to comply with the law. In fact, Kaiser recently added 50 beds to the Roseville hospital and is planning a 179-bed, state-of-the-art Women and Children’s Center to open in 2007.

The law, sponsored by the California Nurses Association, corresponds with a several-year nursing shortage in California. The state ranks 49th nationally in number of RNs per capita, according to the California Healthcare Association.

Nelson said increased career opportunities for women in the workforce has contributed to the shortage in nurses.

Sharon believes factors such as an aging population, technology that increases the life-span of patients and a generation of nurses moving into retirement are additional factors.

“We are calling 2004 the ‘Year of the Nurses,’ ” Sharon said. “Nurses are central to patient safety. They are the person at the patient’s bedside 24-7 administering medications and providing continual care. Nurses will get a lot of attention this year and for a good reason.”

Though the effect of the new law won’t be clear for several years, Nelson anticipates positive results.

“Increased patient care and more jobs for nurses? Of course those are always good things,” Nelson said.

Sarah Langford can be reached at sarahl@goldcountrymedia.com