Texas Nurses push Legislature for changes , say patient ratios unsafe

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

nurses push legislature for changes , say patient ratios unsafe

texas, like the rest of the nation, has an acute shortage of nurses, and though too few schools and teachers are part of the problem, the biggest reason is inadequate working conditions, mainly the high ratio of patients per nurse....

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/111...55869321.shtml

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If that were to happen it would be great!!! I currently work for a "for-profit" hospital and the conditions are ridiculous. (which is why I am going to back to a not-for profit hospital in 2 weeks). They pay a little more but conditions are unsafe. There is not one nurse who feels they have done a good job with pt care. Everyone is overwhelmed and we stay severely understaffed. The scary part is I work on a tele floor with some very sick pts. Hope the legislators vote for the people and not for the corporations. We will see.:)

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

The Governor's wife was a nurse, so I think if Texas has a chance at having safe staffing ratios, we would have seen something mentioned by now. As you can see by a speech he made, his interests lie with the hospitals to get them more nurses (IMO to increase turnover, rather than provide for additional staff) http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/5419/

But, yet again, a Texas governor has absolutely no power!

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

What is the Texas Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2009?

http://www.calnurses.org/nnoc/texas/?print=t

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
What is the Texas Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2009?

http://www.calnurses.org/nnoc/texas/?print=t

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Hundreds-Texas-Registered-Nurses-March/story.aspx?guid=%7B7CF9CE92-72A5-49CB-9594-4977CD31CC1F%7D

I think it is a media blitz by the union to try and get legislators to hear them; but, anything that smells of union in Texas is usually HATED. Texas politics is totally for big business and I think it is a miracle that even one hospital went union here. Now, even though Cypress Fairbanks went union, the Texas law prevents closed shops, so bargaining power is lost with that. Just seen too much over the years to get any hopes up for legislation to protect nurses and patients over the pocketbooks of big business. However, I applaud the try.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

texas legislature to consider staffing ratios

texas, one of the first states in the nation to adopt nurse-staffing plan regulations, will debate the merits of nurse-to-patient staffing legislation during the 2009 session....

..."this is our opportunity to create a workplace we went into nursing to have," says joanne thompson, rn, bsn, in houston. "it will give us a chance to touch someone rather than rush in and out of a room."

the act proposes one nurse to four patients on med/surg units, the emergency room, postpartum women only and psychiatric units. intensive care units, nicus, and post-anesthesia recovery rooms would have to staff one nurse for every two patients. it suggests one-on-one staffing in the operating room, conscious sedation, labor and delivery and with trauma patients in the ed. in rehabilitation units and skilled nursing facilities, the ratios would be one nurse for every five patients. hospitals violating the ratios would be subject to civil penalties....

we don't think we need a bill along the direction of california," says claire b. jordan, rn, msn, executive director of the texas nurses association (tna). "bedside nurses can best predict how much nursing care is needed, not legislators."...

...the american nurses association also supports unit-based, nurse-led staffing policies rather than legislator-mandated ratios, says cynthia haney, american nurses association senior policy fellow for nursing practice and policy.

thompson disagrees and believes in minimum staffing ratios, because nurses are trying to care for too many patients.

"the legislation they have has no meat and has no teeth," thompson says. "it leaves it to the hospital to come up with a staffing plan."

suzanne gordon, visiting professor at the university of maryland school of nursing, assistant, adjunct professor at the university of california, san francisco school of nursing and co-author of the 2008 book safety in numbers: nurse-to-patient ratios and the future of health care, which examines the california and australia experience with ratios, recognizes a need for ratios to deal with work overload.

"what we are seeing in health care is what we are seeing in the economy," gordon says. "unregulated hospitals don't work, just like unregulated wall street has not worked."

gordon points out that the ratio legislation sets minimums. it does not take away nursing management's ability to modify skill mix or schedule additional nurses on a particular shift....

http://include.nurse.com/article/20081117/sc01/81117001

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