Listen to nurses, please

[pickledpepperRN]

http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/opinion/20040330225930.shtml

Letter to Editor:

Nurse/patient ratios

Listen to nurses, please

The "for profit" hospitals are at it again. They are trying to undo the ratios that have protected the quality of care for patients in California since Jan. 1.

Study after study has proven that for every patient over four that a nurse has, the mortality (death) rate goes up. The hospitals just don't care. They say there aren't enough nurses. A big load of hooey. The nurses are out there, they have just gone into other fields because they are sick and tired of running for 12 hours and hoping they didn't miss something that would mean the difference between life and death for one (or all) of their patients.

You may be in the hospital someday, or have someone that you love there. Would you want the nurses to have seven or eight patients, and be so busy they don't have time to do fine quality care? If you care at all about the quality of health care, please contact your assembly person and tell him or her to listen to the nurses, not big business.

Marlen Wears, RN

Cathedral City

[pickledpepperRN]

http://www.gazettes.com/letters.html

Nurse Support

To The Editor,

Have you ever heard anyone complaining about too much care in the hospital?

I doubt it.

With nurses given 10 or 12 patients to care for, there is not much time to spend with any one patient or with the ever-increasing paper workload. The hospitals need to get back to the concept of patient care instead of focusing on patient dollars first. Instead of trying to beat the new staffing ratios, they should put more energy into meeting them.

Provide a working environment that is supportive, that has some benefits of a career and not just a job and with high standards for patient care. Too often hospitals pay a reasonable hourly rate but want to send you home at the slightest census slowdown. Many nurses have worked at many different facilities and in the end have nothing to show for it since pension programs are few and far between.

Nursing problems aren't new, just neglected. Schools have not kept up with the demand for years and patient care in some places has almost turned into self-serve.

The solution is not to seek rollbacks to a year or two ago but to try to get more people into the patient care field.

Kevin Broderick Long Beach