Ohio NNOC Demands Safe Staffing Legislation

[RN Power Ohio]

nurses demand lawmakers force hospitals to ease workload

wednesday, june 18, 2008 3:13 am

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columbus, ohio-nurses gathered outside the statehouse on tuesday to demand legislation preventing hospitals from assigning too many patients to each nurse. members of the national nurses organizing committee said when a nurse has to supervise 14 patients in a unit, the workload leads to errors and puts patients at risk, onn's dan weist reported.

linda fearer of girard is not a nurse, but she attended tuesday's rally. fearer believes her husband died because the hospital did not have enough nurses for all its patients, even though a jury disagreed.

"he might be here today but for the fact that his nurses were overworked," fearer said.

nurse michelle mahon of cleveland said adding more nurses will not raise health care costs.

"hospitals make more than enough money," mahon said. "if you look at the bottom line at these hospitals, they're in the millions and yet they are sacrificing patient's lives."

hospital administrators disagree.

tiffany himmelreich of the ohio hospitals association said the nurses' proposal is unnecessary and will hinder, rather than improve patient care.

"arbitrary ratios do not improve patent care," himmelreich said. "giving hospitals flexibility to make sure the right nurses and the right staff are in the right unit at the right time improves patient care."

a similar law was passed in california, and sympathetic ohio lawmakers plan to introduce a bill sometime soon.:yeah:

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/onnnews/stories/2008/06/18/nurses.html

[Julia RN]

Interested in what the dialogue has been, if any, with the Ohio Nurses Association regarding this NNOC initiative. It's a shame ONA did not go for a better bill, IMO. I know there was joint work between the two organizations on a different issue, with a union focus, back in March, but it appears there is a disconnect between the two groups on the staffing issue.

I'm wondering if there is a different perspective on staffing from the union members of ONA, but it is difficult to tell with a "blended" professional/union association who is driving the intiatives- the professional part, the union part or both together.

From the ONA website:

Staffing Bill (Sub. HB 346) Signed Into Law!

"Governor Ted Strickland signed ONA's Safe Staffing Bill, Sub. House Bill 346 into law on Thursday, June 12, 2008 and will be effective in 90 days. The bill was sponsored by Representative Jim Hughes (R-Columbus) and supported by the Ohio Hospital Asssociation (ONA) and the Ohio Organization of Nurse Executives (OONE).

This law is groundbreaking in that it finally brings direct patient care RNs to the table to give input into nurse staffing plans. It also suggests future possibilities in collaborating with OHA and OONE to address common concerns in healthcare delivery with the goal of improving staff and patient outcomes."

http://www.ohnurses.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=2949

[RN Power Ohio]

i can tell you exactly what motivated the ona to introduce hb 346! the union busting attorneys at jones day!

ona touts this bill as a collaboration between the oha, ona and oone yet the majority of testimony supporting this bill was given by nurse executives. one staff nurse testified for ona and was asked by a representative how she thought the hospital would be accountable- her answer "well it's something". that's the best they could muster up!

a little background:

sept 19, 2007- nnoc ohio holds meeting to announce it's intention to introduce ratio legilsation. oha posted date, time and location of the meeting on their website.

sept 26- jones day labor law meeting: an excerpt from the agenda:

oha/jones day labor law program

cna and other health care unions

(g. roger king, partner, jones day)

cna is not going away. in fact, cna continues to be active in ohio. indeed, many unions consider ohio as fertile ground for new activities. what can we expect to see next? besides cleveland, youngstown and toledo, where are the unions active? are they targeting only nurses or other health care employees too? insight into organized labor’s plans and strategies will be shared withparticipants, including an update of health care union activities in other regions of the country.

october 6, 2007- hb 346 introduced

an excerpt from the oone resources for staffing:

"purpose: the following nurse staffing resources are the beginning accumulation of information and positions, organized through a collaborative effort of the ohio hospital association (oha) and the ohio organization of nurse executives (oone). the resources contained in this packet were prepared for oha’s educational session titled: unions and hospitals in the 21st century: where we stand in 2008… the information provided is in accordance with the requirements of proposed substitute hb 346, but also may have the benefit of engaging staff to prevent their perceived need for union representation."

http://www.futurethink.org/resources/draftstaffingresources5-28-08.pdf

hb 346 is a clear attempt to prevent effective and meaningful staffing legilsation in the state of ohio.