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To Protect Patients and Improve Care, Mass Nurses File Ballot Initiative for Safer Staffing Levels in Massachusetts Hospitals

CANTON, Mass., Aug. 5, 2013-As hospitals focus on profits, patients are being put at risk because they are sharing their nurse with too many other patients, resulting in costly complications and readmissions

In response to deteriorating patient care conditions in the state's acute care hospitals, the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United (MNA/NNU) announced today that it is filing a ballot initiative, the Patient Safety Act, that would dramatically improve patient safety in Massachusetts hospitals by setting a safe maximum limit on the number of patients assigned to a nurse at one time, while also requiring hospitals to adjust nurses' patient assignments based on the specific needs of the patients. ...

... "The research is clear and unequivocal, the most important factor contributing to the health and safety of patients while they are in the hospital is the number of patients your nurse is assigned to care for during his or her shift," explained Donna Kelly-Williams, president of the MNA/NNU and one of the 10 original signers of the petition to establish the ballot initiative. "The fact is patients in our hospitals are at greater risk because they are being forced to share their nurse with too many other patients at the same time."

"In Massachusetts there is no law that states the maximum number of patients a nurse can safely care for at any one time, nor is there any requirement for hospitals to adjust their staffing levels based on the actual needs of the patients," Kelly-Williams explained. "As a result, hospitals are forcing nurses to ration care, placing patients' health in jeopardy. This ballot measure will ensure patients receive the care they need and deserve, when they need it, preventing thousands of patient complications, saving hundreds of lives, and yes, saving millions of dollars that are being wasted now because patients aren't receiving adequate, timely care from their nurse." ...

Specializes in Critical-care RN.

gee wiz... a twenty-five thousand fine per day sounds good :yes:

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Specializes in ED.

I love the idea of hospitals being transparent about their nurse to patient ratios. In this day of technological advancement, it really wouldn't be difficult. I believe all hospitals should put on their website the nurse to patient ratio for each day and each shift. It should be the real numbers, of the actual staff member and the number of actual patients he/she has. I know many hospitals would try to get away with the old, "well, 3B has 43 beds and we have 55 staff members. What they would fail to mention is how many are per diem, how many are on vacation or sick or on leave. No, I want to see real numbers. Actually, in a competitive marketplace, this makes a lot of sense. It allows for competition between hospitals. The consumer can choose which health care facility he/she would rather go to by compiling all the data and making an informed choice. The hospitals with better staffing and better outcomes would be the most desirous, and they would be the institutions that make more money.

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

Yes-transparency for staffing ratios. And not cutting auxiliary help to hire more nurses.

-what is it with CEO salaries. People say they have to be high to be competitive... Why?? That would be a budget cut. If nursing gets mandatory ratios the money will come from housekeeping or secretarial help-- why not cut CEO's. They are too expensive..

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Specializes in ED.

I would love to see the breakdown of a CEO's daily work day. While I am sure that the majority really do work hard, I would like to see what they do day to day to earn their enormous salaries. We had a CEO that came to work every day at 4am. He started in the parking garage and walked the entire hospital, talking to staff and listening to the different issues the staff had. He also got things fixed and taken care of. He went home sometime around 6 or 7pm. His salary....$250,000./yr. He was the lowest paid hospital CEO in the area. I believe he worked hard for his money. Our hospital was taken over by another hospital, I have since to see a CEO making rounds through the building.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Hospital CEO pay not tied to quality of care: study

Hospital CEOs' pay isn't linked to their hospital's benefit to the community. Nor is it linked to the quality of care the hospital provides, a new study found.

Instead, the chief executive officers, or CEOs, tended to earn more at hospitals with high patient satisfaction ratings and advanced technology.

"I was hoping I'd see even some modest relationship with quality performance," said Dr. Ashish Jha. "I think we were a little disappointed."

Jha worked on the study at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He and his colleagues combined data from tax returns, hospital surveys and performance and cost reports....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-hospital-quality-care-idUSBRE99D0MA20131014

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

50,000 Signatures Gathered For Two Ballot Initiatives Ensuring That They Go Before the Voters in November: Patient Safety and Hospital Finance Transparency

New Poll Finds Strong Support for Both Initiatives by Mass Voters

... "We are thrilled that the public is so receptive to both of these important initiatives. It's a testament to how important the issues of safe patient limits and hospital financial transparency are to the public," said Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, President of the MNA/NNU. "Many voters were shocked to learn that there is currently no limit on the number of patients hospitals can assign to a registered nurse at one time. And most voters expressed outrage that hospitals are storing tax dollars in offshore accounts and paying their CEOs excessive compensation, while hospital administrators cut services vital to communities."

A recent poll of Massachusetts voters on both questions finds strong support for both measures, with nearly 7 in 10 voters (67 percent) supporting the Patient Safety Act and 6 in 10 voters (60 percent) supporting the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act...

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