Even in light of legislation, (California) H.R. 1821 - Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2013, (and others before it) these issues continue with, seemingly, little progress made.
Why do safe staffing issues continue to plague Nursing practice ?
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
Even though too many hospitals are violating the law the ratios have saved lives.
I know nurses at many hospitals. All claim to follow the law. At minimum they staff for the maximum number of patients allowed for the unit most of the time.
Too often many facilities fail to add staff for higher acuity patients as required. Those same hospitals often fail to provide a competent RN to take over the assignment of nurses when they take a meal or rest break.
The hospitals that do follow the law nearly all the time have staff nurses who document each and every time staffing is below standards AND nursing manageers and administrators who also insist on safe staffing as required by law.
In spite of too many facilities half way adherence to the law patients in California are less likely to die due to "Failure to Rescue" and more likely to survive.
The researchers surveyed 22,336 RNs in California and two comparable states, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with striking results, including: if they matched California state-mandated ratios in medical and surgical units, New Jersey hospitals would have 13.9 percent fewer patient deaths and Pennsylvania 10.6 percent fewer deaths. Because all hospitalized patients are likely to benefit from improved nurse staffing, not just general surgery patients, the potential number of lives that could be saved by improving nurse staffing in hospitals nationally is likely to be many thousands a year,†according to Linda Aiken, the study's lead author.
California RNs report having significantly more time to spend with patients, and their hospitals are far more likely to have enough RNs on staff to provide quality patient care. Fewer California RNs say their workload caused them to miss changes in patient conditions than New Jersey or Pennsylvania RNs
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, September 26, 2012
The California safe staffing law has increased nurse staffing levels and created more reasonable workloads for nurses in California hospitals, leading to fewer patient deaths and higher levels of job satisfaction than in other states without mandated staffing ratios.
Despite initial concerns from opponents, the skill mix of nurses used by California hospitals has not declined since implementation of the mandated ratios.
Thank you for sharing those articles. They highlight my point. That being, patient outcomes are directly determined by Nurse / patient ratios.
Likewise, patient outcomes, ultimately, determine a hospital's profit margin.
Re~admission is more expensive than initial increased RN/patient ratios.
Not to mention the legal fees expense often incurred by a hospital regarding complications requiring re~admission.
When statistics clearly show relationship between patient outcome and RN/patient ratios, I don't understand how/why administrations get away with compromising patient care/safety.
Not to mention the safety and professional accountability of everyone involved.
herring_RN, ASN, BSN
3,651 Posts
Even though too many hospitals are violating the law the ratios have saved lives.
I know nurses at many hospitals. All claim to follow the law. At minimum they staff for the maximum number of patients allowed for the unit most of the time.
Too often many facilities fail to add staff for higher acuity patients as required. Those same hospitals often fail to provide a competent RN to take over the assignment of nurses when they take a meal or rest break.
The hospitals that do follow the law nearly all the time have staff nurses who document each and every time staffing is below standards AND nursing manageers and administrators who also insist on safe staffing as required by law.
In spite of too many facilities half way adherence to the law patients in California are less likely to die due to "Failure to Rescue" and more likely to survive.