[dazzle256]

Originally Posted by TriageRN_34

Okay let me see if I am getting this right...at first I thought the bill he rejected would ratio out 1 nurse to 6 patients..but it was already 1 nurse to 6 patients and he rejected a bill to make it 1 nurse to 5 patients????

Okay I support my fellow nurses out there, but wow...it is 1 nurse to 8 patients here by law...to have 6 only would be great! Maybe he sees that it worked in other states...and that is why he rejected it??? Maybe we should focus on a National ratio and get everyone on the same page..that may help?!?!?! I mean, if other states have a larger ratio..go figure someone may do a bit of that "well if they can do it..so can we" especially someone that doesn't give a hoot?

What are the ratios in your state???..Oregon here, and this is what I have been told and had to endure when I worked in hospital...we had one per as many as 8 if the census was that high (yeah right, some nights (swing shift) I would have as many as 9 neurovasc/med surg!). I have heard it was the same in Washington state, but don't quote me on that.

When you had 8 or 9 patients were you really able to give the care that the patients should have been given? Sure it can work to have 9 or more med/surg pts but things can still get missed......things that would not have been with a little bit more attention. I know its happened to me. Long story but I had a patient that 3 days post op should have had H&H's drawn. We finally relised that day when she got really bad her HBG was 4 and she had never had a level drawn sense surgery. Sure the doctors on her case should have caught it...sure the nurses before me should have caught it....bottom line we always seem to be working by just keeping our heads above water. Its doable but no acceptable outcomes. JMO

[ICUnowOHN]

Here in MI it's 2-3 ICU, and as many as 10-12 per RN stepdown, and lucky if you get an LPN to help, usually it's CNA. Count your blessings. National number would help out a great deal of patients/nurses everywhere.

And the acuity level is pretty high. Usually 2-3 fresh Open hearts out of ICU that day.

[NurseGuy_in_06]

Originally Posted by Marie_LPN

A major example of why voting him in was a bad idea.

Here in GA we voted out a governor that alienated the state's teachers. He can always be replaced and knowing how he is his ego would take a major hit.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Originally Posted by dazzle256

Here is a thought....reduction in administrative and managerial positions.

yea.....nice thought.

[hypnotic_nurse]

Originally Posted by Gomer

The man is an idiot! He treats nurses, and women in general, like objects to meet his own personal needs and desires.

If he ever managed to make it into the presidency (thank goodness he is not native born so that makes it much less likely) he will make Bill Clinton look like a saint.

I wish we'd all get over our fascination with celebrity. I love him in movies, don't like him much in real life.

[pickledpepperRN]

http://www.calnurse.org/

http://www.calnurse.org/?Action=Category&id=251

The actual law - http://radicalfusion.org/files.calnu..._chaptered.pdf
CNA's 12 year campaign for safe staffing - http://radicalfusion.org/files.calnu...12yearcamp.pdf
Actual regulations - http://www.dhs.ca.gov/lnc/pubnotice/...ation_Text.pdf
More than most want to know about the "Emergency Regulations" - http://www.applications.dhs.ca.gov/r...submit1=Submit
The most frightening aspect of the "emergency" regulations are that hospitals have been given "Flexibility" in staffing emergency departments. Hospitals are not required to keep a record of patients assigned to each nurse. They only have to show an attempt to return to the safe staffing ratios arter an unexpected influx or patients.
I believe that since they have no trouble finding staff when JCAHO visits I am sceptical when they say, "Sorry. We tried everything. Do the best you can.".
I personally think it unprofessional to let my patients suffer because I cannot be in two places at once.

The ratios that saved lives and prevented suffering were:
§70217. Nursing Service Staff.

Hospitals designated by the Local Emergency Medical Services (LEMS) Agency as a “base hospital”, as defined in section 1797.58 of the Health and Safety Code, shall have either a licensed physician or a registered nurse on duty to respond to the base radio 24 hours each day. When the duty of base radio responder is assigned to a registered nurse, that registered nurse may assist by performing other nursing tasks when not responding to radio calls, but shall be immediately available to respond to requests for medical direction on the base radio. The registered nurse assigned as base radio responder shall not be counted in the licensed nurse-to-patient ratios.

When licensed nursing staff are attending critical care patients in the emergency department, the licensed nurse-to-patient ratio shall be 1:2 or fewer critical care patients at all times. A patient in the emergency department shall be considered a critical care patient when the patient meets the criteria for admission to a critical care service area within the hospital.

Only registered nurses shall be assigned to critical trauma patients in the emergency department, and a minimum registered nurse-to-critical trauma patient ratio of 1:1 shall be maintained at all times. A critical trauma patient is a patient who has injuries to an anatomic area that : (1) require life saving interventions, or (2) in conjunction with unstable vital signs, pose an immediate threat to life or limb.

[Thunderwolf]

I think we get a really good taste as to what ole Arnold is really all about here. Can you imagine what havoc he would cause on a national scale? And there are actually folks trying to push to amend the Constitution for him to do just that. He is way too scarey. Folks who push for him concern me. A little too fascist in Republican clothing to my liking.

[begalli]

Originally Posted by spacenurse

Hospitals designated by the Local Emergency Medical Services (LEMS) Agency as a “base hospital”, as defined in section 1797.58 of the Health and Safety Code, shall have either a licensed physician or a registered nurse on duty to respond to the base radio 24 hours each day. When the duty of base radio responder is assigned to a registered nurse, that registered nurse may assist by performing other nursing tasks when not responding to radio calls, but shall be immediately available to respond to requests for medical direction on the base radio. The registered nurse assigned as base radio responder shall not be counted in the licensed nurse-to-patient ratios.

If I'm reading this right, this is like trauma ICUs are staffed in CA. The unit MUST staff for a trauma 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They must also have a bed specifically designated for a trauma. This nurse is not in the count, but there "just in case."

Is that kinda of the same thing?

Is this Title 22?

[RN4NICU]

It was the comments made by this a--hole that turned my stomach. I realize that the comments were made by the "enemy", so to speak, but they contribute toward the pool of information (no matter that the "information" is not fit to line the bottom of a birdcage) from which the public forms its opinion of nurses, the CNA, and the governator:

An advocate for the state's hospitals denounced the protesters' tactics.

"It's disgraceful and pathetic. It really dishonors the nursing profession," said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Assn., which supports maintaining current nurse staffing levels — one for every six patients in medical-surgical wards, instead of one for every five under the requirement put off by the governor.

"Most nurses in California who do not belong to the CNA are individuals who are dedicated, caring people who spend their lives helping others heal. They do not support these antics, which smack of Teamster labor union tactics," Emerson said.

[pickledpepperRN]

Originally Posted by begalli

If I'm reading this right, this is like trauma ICUs are staffed in CA. The unit MUST staff for a trauma 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They must also have a bed specifically designated for a trauma. This nurse is not in the count, but there "just in case."

Is that kinda of the same thing?

Is this Title 22?

Title 22 is the regulations healthcare facilities must follow to be licensed. This ER section went into effect on 1/1/2004. It is the section the Governors "emergency regulations" changed to allow 'flexibility'.

Before the ratios hospitals had an emergency almost every shift. A sick call, a baby born, an MI caused a 'staffing emergency'. Patients were placed in chairs, wheel chairs, and carts in hallways and closets in the ED. I have heard of as many as 52 patients. i MD and 2 RNs in the ED.

One ER nurse said, "I won't work where we are so short that I find people dead in the chair in the ED waiting room."

If acuity worked we wouldn't have spent our free time for 12 years trying to get safe staffing.