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Would you support this bill to provide staffing in acute care and long term acute care hospitals by patient acuity with the ratio the maximum number of patients that may be assignd to a nurse?
One of these links should work:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-1031
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s1031is.txt.pdf
If we have the government mandate staffing levels, the hospital will cut corners elsewhere.. picture your 5 patients, no CNA's, no secretary, and cuts on housekeeping, etc. 5 to one is good, if you don't have to do all of the orders, answer the phone, clean patient rooms, do all the baths, etc. etc. And if the government is involved, the oversight committees and extra govenment workers will be taking their share off the top of medicare/medicaid funding. The bottom line will still be the money, not the patients.
Some facilities are like that now. Try it w/ 6 pts!!!, and charge nurse has a full load too!! Acuity not taken into account.
i personally would support a bill the specified the amount of patients i could have on a telemetry floor. i don't appreciate having 6, not always stable, patients and covering 1 for the lpn (basically also my patient). not to mention having a higher nurse to patient ration only risk your nursing license.
certainly skilled nursing facilities need improved staffing regulations.
it will require a coalition on rns, lpn/lvns, cnas, residents, potential residents, and family members to achieve this.
for now evidence continues to prove what we know. safe staffing saves lives, prevents complications, and keeps the best nursing staff at the bedside in acute care hospitals. this includes ltacs.
a lower nurse-to-patient ratio results in significantly fewer patient deaths and less professional burnout
by suzanne gordon | august 5, 2010
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/08/05/critical_care/
herring_RN, ASN, BSN
3,651 Posts
scroll down. this is included in the bill: