Nov. 28 Webinar- Navigating Quality: How to Know When Nurse Staffing is Safe

Unfortunately, the ANA knows very little about safe staffing. They have been relying on their 1993 "Safe Staffing Initiative" for almost 20 years now. Nursing surveys show little improvement and staffing ratios continue to be a major source of discontent for nurses, particularly on the tele and med sure floors.

Relying on nursing administrators to set a safe staffing level is ridiculous. They are told what the staffing level will be by CEO's, not using any kind of genuine acuity system (since there really isn't any reliable acuity system), and have little if any direct control. If they did, we could hold them responsible for any issues legally.

Mandated ratios are the only thing the "industry" will listen to, as California has demonstrated.

I encourage EVERY nurse and nursing student to critically look at nursing organizations and support those that support the bedside practice of nursing, since that is our core. So far, only the NNU has done anything.

I think ANA needs to pull back and re-evaluate their organization stance on ratios. American nurses all over have stood up saying they want a national minimum nurse to patient ratio. We have had no support on this from ANA. Some of my colleagues have seen the ANA as an enemy of nurse ratios. This is why I cancelled my membership and worked hard to get a nurse run union in our hospital. The union nurses are the only ones pushing for REAL safe staffing.