How Many Nurses? ACA Intensifies Hospital Debate

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Monday, July 8, 2013

Opponents of minimum-staffing bills say they are too rigid, but supporters say more nurses will improve hospital outcomes as the Affordable Care Act boosts patient admissions and aims to lower rates of infection. ...

The Affordable Care Act, which is expected to boost hospital admissions, has intensified a decades-old battle over the number of nurses who should be available to patients at all times.

Championed by National Nurses United, a 185,000-member national nurses union based in Silver Spring, Md., bills vehemently opposed by hospital administrators are working their way through seven state legislatures--Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Texas--the District of Columbia city council and the U.S. Senate.

At the federal level, a bill authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat, requires minimum staffing levels in hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds (the insurance programs for the elderly and low-income Americans) and fines up to $250,000 per violation of those staffing minimums.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 91 percent of the nation's 3.8 million employed nurses are women. Among those employed nurses, 78 percent are registered nurses, 19 percent are licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, 2 percent are nurse practitioners and 1 percent nurse anesthetists.

Ashley Forsberg, chair of the congress of public policy of the Michigan Nurses Association, a union that supports a bill in Michigan, predicts that minimum staffing laws will become increasingly important when many of the 32 million Americans who will obtain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act on Jan. 1, 2014, begin streaming into hospitals.

"Research has shown that minimum staffing ratios ensure patient safety and prevent burnout, a significant factor in shortages of nurses," said Forsberg, a certified medical-surgical nurse, in a phone interview.

In addition to more patients, she said, nurses will have more seriously ill patients who require complex treatments and extensive patient education. The risk of falls and infections will increase, leading to longer hospitals stays and complications when patients go home. ...

http://womensenews.org/story/labor/130707/how-many-nurses-aca-intensifies-hospital-debate

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Some good info in this post; however, I would like to have seen the gender reference omitted, as it does not add anything meaningful to the discussion of whether or not legislation of nurse - patient ratios is a positive thing for patient care.