nursing groups nearly always lead the legislative charge. zenei cortez, r.n., traces the efforts back to the 1990s when cash-crunched hospitals cut back their nurses and hired more unlicensed personnel. nurses have been trying to gain more say on the staffing issue ever since, says cortez, a member of the president’s council created by the oakland-based california nurses association and the national nurse organizing committee.
on the other hand, jean moore, director of the center for health workforce studies at the state university of new york’s albany school of public health, says pressure to improve quality of care, bolstered by reports from the institute of medicine and others that indicate a relationship between staffing and outcomes, has made staffing a priority with state legislatures. “when you cut to the chase, it’s about preserving quality and not putting nurses in a situation where they are likely to do harm,” she says.
the ongoing shortage of nurses also has focused attention on the staffing issue.
