Nurses propose new legislation to protect patient safety

View video of the announcement.

“We have nearly 1,000 incidents from the final six months of 2011 where our patients suffered and in some instances even had their lives put at risk because of inadequate staffing levels,” said Minnesota Nurses Association President Linda Hamilton, RN.

“What’s even more disturbing is that in nearly 900 of these incidents, hospital management did not – in the professional opinion of our Registered Nurses – take adequate steps to remedy the situation. That means hospital administrators failed patients and nurses more than 90 percent of the time whenever patient safety issues were brought to their attention.”

MNA Nurses filled out 988 Concern For Safe Staffing (CFSS) forms during the final six months of 2011 after a new online reporting system was formally launched on the MNA website and mobile application. Copies of each CFSS form were submitted to both hospital management and MNA representatives. Of those documented incidents, 54 percent put patient safety at “High” or “Extreme” risk, according to the professional judgment of MNA RNs.

“Unfortunately, these numbers don’t represent a new problem or a new pattern of hospital administrators failing to act,” Hamilton said. “After years of broken promises from hospitals to work directly with nurses to address patient safety issues that resulted from inadequate staffing, we’ve been left with no choice but to take our concerns to the state legislature. And we’re pleased this proposed legislation has the bipartisan support of Rep. Larry Howes in the House and Sen. Jeff Hayden in the Senate.”

The 2012 Staffing For Patient Safety Act includes setting a maximum patient assignment for Registered Nurses based on factors including nursing intensity and patient acuity, and would require hospital administrators to work directly with nurses to ensure that adequate resources are provided to keep patients safe. It would also increase transparency surrounding the staffing process.

“Hospital administrators have said for years that they’re willing to work with nurses and allow us – based on our own professional judgment – to add staff in an appropriate and timely manner when our patients are not safe,” Hamilton said. “That simply hasn’t happened. And until it does, we need legislation like this to hold hospital administrators accountable and keep our patients safe.”

On June 10, 2010, 12,000 Minnesota RNs conducted the largest nursing strike in history to call attention to patient safety issues resulting from inadequate staffing in the Twin Cities and beyond. As part of the ensuing contract settlement, 14 of the state\’s biggest hospitals once again promised to work directly with nurses to ensure patient safety through adequate staffing levels.

Nearly 18 months later, the problem is worse than ever inside numerous hospitals across the state, according to Hamilton. Instead of keeping their word, Minnesota hospital executives even went so far as to secretly plan a three-year long PR campaign aimed at stonewalling any attempts by nurses to address patient safety through adequate staffing. The plan was uncovered in late 2010 after MNA nurses learned of a Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) memo outlining the strategy. (Visit www.mnnurses.org/Memo

for complete details.)

“This is not some sort of game,” Hamilton said. “We’re talking about real people here. Real families. We had one recent example where a nurse was caring for a dying baby, but was forced to take another patient because the unit wasn’t staffed adequately. That meant this nurse was severely limited in her ability to comfort the grieving family. To begin with, a dying baby should never be paired with another infant. On top of that, think of what this must have been like for the parents of the dying child. And you know what management did in response? They ordered pizza for the nurses.”

In addition to the documented personal stories and experiences shared by MNA RNs on the front lines, there are dozens of national studies and statistics proving the direct connection between adequate RN staffing levels and patient safety, Hamilton said, noting that in hospitals with inadequate staffing conditions:

• You could be up to 25 percent more likely to die.
• You could be 50 percent more likely to die when facing certain types of cancer surgery.
• You could be 68 percent more likely to acquire a preventable infection.
• You could be 53 percent more likely to suffer from respiratory failure.

For more information

Visit the MNA website for a comprehensive list of all relevant studies and findings related to RN staffing levels and patient safety.

Video
<other/>
Video streaming by Ustream