H. 1282 Safe Staffing

Keep fighting!

I'm an LVN in California, about to make the move back to Boston and am more than a little shocked to realize that MA does not have staffing ratios?! As of Jan 1st of last year, we cannot have more than 6 Med/Surg patients and that is supposed to drop to 5 this year! Is 8-10 patients really the norm out there?

I'm an LVN in California, about to make the move back to Boston and am more than a little shocked to realize that MA does not have staffing ratios?! As of Jan 1st of last year, we cannot have more than 6 Med/Surg patients and that is supposed to drop to 5 this year! Is 8-10 patients really the norm out there?

Yes it is! I work with nurses who do per-diem work at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MA and @ times they have 10-12 patient assignments on med/surg.

It's important that we don't let this issue get lost in the shuffle. Contact your local state rep and let the no your displeasure with the foot dragging. Our patients and their families are counting on us.

The hospital I work in is located in Wisconsin, but I used to work in Massachusetts and have been following the Mass legislation. Recently our newsletter here at work updated us on the California situation saying, " Of interest recently are the changes that are going on in California regarding the nurse to patient ratio requirements. The state is proposing to delay expanding the 1:6 ratio to 1:5 pending further evaluation. currently, 11 hospitals have closed and others are struggling to comply with these requirements due to nursing shortages."

I lived in Mass when they started this and I spoke with Shannon O'Brien at a meeting in her Dracut office about this. I asked wha they thought would happen to the little hospitals who didnt' have the staff to cover the requirements and was told that California had thought they could cover it and that Mass was going to follow suit. The fact the 11 hospitals have closed goes to prove that they can't MAKE the nurses come back to the bedside.