RNs win strong patient care protection...

Published

This IS good!

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/MONEY/603250308/1003

..."The nurses are very pleased that we now have a policy that restricts the unsafe practice of floating," said intensive-care nurse Peggy Van Grouw, another union negotiator.

Besides the wage increase of between 26 percent to 29 percent over four years and a $3 bump to attract new nurses, the tentative agreement also includes:

» Patient-care technology review procedures to protect nursing practice and patient care from changes in technology.

» An increase in well-baby care from $200 to $1,000.

» Safe patient lifting and handling language.

» Restrictions on the use of outside temporary nurses.

California Hospital Association spokeswoman Jan Emerson had no comment Friday on the inclusion of the staffing-ratio law in the labor contract.

Most, if not all travel nurses, have a 36 hour a week work guarantee in their contract. So you'll be paying us to stay home.. And we won that without paying union dues again.

Also, how is not using agency nurses helping with safe staffing issues.

NO UNION IS A GOOD UNION.

Congratulations! It must be a West Coast Trend.

Earlier this month on March 8, 2006, Washington State legislature voted the passage of the Safe Patient Handling Bill “promoting” the safer moving and lifting of patients in the state’s hospitals. The Washington Sensate voted 48-0 to approve the bill. The following day, the Washington House of Representatives voted 85-13 in favor of the legislation. The Governor is expected to sign the bill

The law is the first in the country to REQUIRE employers to implement a safe patient lifting program that relies on the use of mechanical lifting and transfer devices, instead of manual lifting to perform patient lifts and transfers, except in limited circumstances where it would be medically contraindicated for specific patients.

Highlights of Washington State’s Safe Patient Lifting Law

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“Safe Patient Lifting” is defined in the law to mean “the use of engineering controls, lifting and transfer aides, or assistive devices, by lift teams or other staff, instead of manual lifting, to perform acts of lifting, transferring, and repositioning health care patients and residents.”

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Clarifies that if lift teams are used, the teams must still use mechanical lifting and transfer devices.

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The law applies to all shifts and units within acute care hospitals statewide.

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Requires the establishment of a safe patient handling committee with at least half of the members comprised of frontline nonmanagerial employees who provide direct patient care, unless doing so will adversely affect patient care.* The purpose of the committee is to design and recommend the process of implementing the safe patient handling program.

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Requires hospitals to develop a policy to allow hospital employees to refuse to perform manually lifting and transferring if the hospital employee(s) believe(s) the activity will pose an unacceptable risk of injury.

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Requires the employer to conduct an annual performance evaluation of the program to determine its effectiveness, with recommendations to increase the program’s effectiveness, and with the results reported to the safe patient handling committee.*

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Provides hospitals with a $1,000 per bed tax credit to offset the cost of purchasing mechanical lifting and transfer devices, with a limit of ten million dollars statewide.

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Directs the State operated workers compensation program to develop rules to reduce insurance premiums for hospitals that implement safe patient lifting programs.

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