[PsychRN03]

sent and forwarded to 3 other nurses I know. I have but one recommendation...I don't think it would hurt to add to the beginning of the email--"I am a registered voter in your district/state".

[CareBayer]

Thanks for posting this!!! I completed the poll and wrote my congress-people.

[BrokenRNheart]

Originally Posted by psychrn03

sent and forwarded to 3 other nurses I know. I have but one recommendation...I don't think it would hurt to add to the beginning of the email--"I am a registered voter in your district/state".

Good suggestion. Thanks!

[BrokenRNheart]

Originally Posted by rn undisclosed name

I also sent in my info to have the letter sent.

I will say I have recently left my previous job because I wasn't happy in the direction the ratios were going and they weren't doing anything about it except trying to get agency nurses to come in and work. Unfortunately the agency nurses didn't want to come anymore because they didn't like how they were treated even when they were offered an extra $20/hour bonus to come and work. There was also a law that was effective 1/1/08 and they were not doing anything about setting up a committee to have any standards in place. No matter how many people said things to management it just went on deaf ears. I have started at another hospital that is union and they NEVER exceed the ratios. I welcome the change. Enough was enough!

Sounds good. Hope you are "happy" if that is the right word for this

[nrsang97]

I did this too. I also sent 2 messages to my local government. I added text there since most of the talk there was of mandated OT which I have never experienced. I tried to post this a few days ago and it didn't post. So lets try again.

[forrester]

I may be new to this nursing post, but I have studied this issue of staffing ratios for more than a decade: academically, administratively, and academically. We do not control our practice domain in nursing, and the staffing ratio situation is just one example.
Part of the problem is our administrative leadership. Many "nurse" executives are members of the AONE (American Organization of Nurse Executives), which is a chapter of the AHA (American Hospital Association). These "leaders" are not hired by us as working nurses, but by administrators who expect an allegiance to their vision of "safe." This nursing leadership has been a dismal falure for most of us who expect them to advocate for truly safe levels.

Please read the words in the ANA position statement on safe staffing. Do you see specific levels? Or are we once again going to rely on what others interpret as safe.

Only 1 group has come out with specific levels, the California Nurses Assoociation and their now national group, the NNOC. Please take the time to visit their web sites and see the difference between vague terminology and specificity. They are now moving nationally, and we nned to support this group, who against all odds, managed to pass and enforce specific levels. They did it in the face of intense political opposition from a popular Republican governor and the AHA/CHA, and by default, the California Organizaiton of Nurse Executives.

As nurses, we need to stop this hat-in-hand political begging and start being very specific about what we see as required to provide the American public with safer facilities.

We also need to learn how to do this as a group. This is more than a tele and med-surg issue. ER nurses have suffered for years during peak times, even as predictable as they are. This is a challenge to our entire profession. Nurses can no longer hide in specialty units or critical care. In fact, these nurses should be our leaders in the fight.

Take the time, read the statements, and support who you can. Letters to your congressman are important, but showing true political power will require us to work together and use our 1 political strength, our numbers.

As long as the ANA is satisfied with having 188,000 members with a potential workforce of 2.7 million, we will continue to avoid the critical self relfection which should be guiding how and to what end these organizations should be focused.

[siggie13]

Thanks for the site....just sent mine in and do have good thoughts about the poll helping.
Keep getting calls from nurses at my old work place, begging me to come back to help them out. It has been a year now since I worked as a nurse and I can't even imagine going back. My WHOLE life is different now and for once, I am placing myself above others. FEELS GOOD.

[BrokenRNheart]

Originally Posted by forrester

I may be new to this nursing post, but I have studied this issue of staffing ratios for more than a decade: academically, administratively, and academically. We do not control our practice domain in nursing, and the staffing ratio situation is just one example.
Part of the problem is our administrative leadership. Many "nurse" executives are members of the AONE (American Organization of Nurse Executives), which is a chapter of the AHA (American Hospital Association). These "leaders" are not hired by us as working nurses, but by administrators who expect an allegiance to their vision of "safe." This nursing leadership has been a dismal falure for most of us who expect them to advocate for truly safe levels.

Please read the words in the ANA position statement on safe staffing. Do you see specific levels? Or are we once again going to rely on what others interpret as safe.

Only 1 group has come out with specific levels, the California Nurses Assoociation and their now national group, the NNOC. Please take the time to visit their web sites and see the difference between vague terminology and specificity. They are now moving nationally, and we nned to support this group, who against all odds, managed to pass and enforce specific levels. They did it in the face of intense political opposition from a popular Republican governor and the AHA/CHA, and by default, the California Organizaiton of Nurse Executives.

As nurses, we need to stop this hat-in-hand political begging and start being very specific about what we see as required to provide the American public with safer facilities.

We also need to learn how to do this as a group. This is more than a tele and med-surg issue. ER nurses have suffered for years during peak times, even as predictable as they are. This is a challenge to our entire profession. Nurses can no longer hide in specialty units or critical care. In fact, these nurses should be our leaders in the fight.

Take the time, read the statements, and support who you can. Letters to your congressman are important, but showing true political power will require us to work together and use our 1 political strength, our numbers.

As long as the ANA is satisfied with having 188,000 members with a potential workforce of 2.7 million, we will continue to avoid the critical self relfection which should be guiding how and to what end these organizations should be focused.

I will look at it. Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately it is difficult to know who to trust. At least getting involved in sending letters to the congress tells how we feel. I did not realize California Nurses Association had a national group. They are worth checking out if that's the case because they did change things.

Unfortunately what I have seen to be the biggest problem is that while nurses complain about what we know is going on, for some reason as soon as they are given a resolution or some way to make a change they seem to crawl under a rock. Then you have those that will come along and say nothing is ever going to change don't bother.

I'm not sure what it is about this field but those that follow that path have only themselves to blame for the way it is. For some reason nurses are afraid to stand, afraid to say no or something and they have allowed the changes to continue and continue to get worse. I have watched the hospitals throw more and more at the nurses year after year and month after month and nurses will grumble but do nothing. Once that battle is proven to be won by the hospital they throw more at them and this repeats itself over and over. It seems that the last 7 years especially changes have been so frequent and drastic along with the new revolving door affect that nurses are generally negative and miserable at work and don't even realize it because they have been that way so long.

Many people say that the negativity of others brings people down but I have also seen people say that and not even realize that they themselves are negative, flat or sour.

I think it has gotten to be an unhealthy stress level and it is unsafe. Being unsafe should be enough for nurses to fight and make a stand. After all we are in a field of caring for people and we are taught about legal documentation, safe care, appropriate care, taking care of body, mind and soul but nothing about nursing fits any of our training, morals or values. What does that say for us as humans - as a whole. If we don't stand up to see the change, WHO WILL!

I shake my head every time I see a nurse complain but NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I give. I give up on those. They can continue to work in this mess but I can't any more. It's not right. Just because we are nurses does not mean we are super humans and I don't understand why the work has to be so unsafe.

Some of us will continue to fight for this. While others say nothing will change and others crawl under their rock, CALIFORNIA DID IT! That says a lot. That means it can be done. I will stick with the nurses that want to see change and pat myself on the back for doing that. Those that sat back and refused to participate can remember that any change will not be due to any actions on their part. Other people did it for them.

While they crawl under their rocks or insist nothing is ever going to change, I will take my chances and invest in the possibility that something will because I know if none of us do anything there is no hope for change. Doing nothing gets nothing. Letting everyone else do the work means it takes LONGER.

[forrester]

"Some of us will continue to fight for this. While others say nothing will change and others crawl under their rock, CALIFORNIA DID IT! That says a lot. That means it can be done. I will stick with the nurses that want to see change and pat myself on the back for doing that. Those that sat back and refused to participate can remember that any change will not be due to any actions on their part. Other people did it for them.

While they crawl under their rocks or insist nothing is ever going to change, I will take my chances and invest in the possibility that something will because I know if none of us do anything there is no hope for change. Doing nothing gets nothing. Letting everyone else do the work means it takes LONGER."

Dear BrokenRNheart-
Don't give up yet!
Remember, action speaks louder than words. YES, the California group has managed to do what no other nursinng group has done- stand up for specific ratios and get rid of the staffing "double talk". Words like "safe", "appropriate", "acuity based", and "skill balanced" are all administrative deceptions.
The fact of the matter is that specific ratios are needed because history has shown us that administrations, including nursing administrations, are unwilling or incapable of mandating appropriate levels on their own.

Remember, the AONE (American Association of Nurse Executives) is a chapter of the AHA (American Hospital Association).

When Governor Swarzennegger and the California AHA took the CNA and the new law to court, they were unable to produce any evidence that this new law closed hospitals. The AHRQ concluded in 2004 that reducing ratios did not impact hospital profits, although it did incerase operating costs. These costs were offset by increasing patient safety and decreasing length of stays.

Sooner or later, our organizations will realize that they too must come out for specific ratios, mandated by enforceable laws. If they don't, they will become obsolete as the NNOC wave sweeps the country and nurses realize, at long last, that they CAN do something about this issue.

Maybe then we can start dealing with other issues in healthcare reform that are desperately needed.

[BrokenRNheart]

"When Governor Swarzennegger and the California AHA took the CNA and the new law to court, they were unable to produce any evidence that this new law closed hospitals. The AHRQ concluded in 2004 that reducing ratios did not impact hospital profits, although it did incerase operating costs. These costs were offset by increasing patient safety and decreasing length of stays."

Thanks so much for taking the time to add this information. I have so many things going on that I can't push or focus in this area. I have to heal and find a job and have been doing so many things.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do research and find information like you provided. What little bit I did didn't turn up much so I decided to at least use ANA to get this going. Other links weren't acceptable at this forum. It's kinda hard to put so much energy and effort into something like this just to have it ignored by so many nurses.

I think your knowledge is much needed here on this board. If you have more information and better choices, you need to get them posted and see if they get accepted and maybe your topic will earn a sticky.

Thanks for your time here!