NY Nurses Push for ‘Safe Staffing’ Bill

New York nurses are fighting back against management pressure to take on 9, 10 or even more patients at once. They know that’s not safe for patients or nurses. Research shows that when nurses care for two to three times the patients they can safely manage, the chances of preventable death, hospital acquired infections, and adverse outcomes increase.

But there is a solution: legislated safe nurse-to-patient ratios.

CWA District 1, Locals 1168 and 1133 and the New York State Nurses Association have been working together to for legislation to ensure that patients receive the quality care that they deserve under the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act.

The bill would require all acute care facilities to meet minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, and also would require all residential healthcare facilities to comply with minimum care hours for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nurses aids.

Together, health care workers are raising awareness that safe staffing saves lives – and can help reduce costs in our healthcare system. 

• California’s historic first-in-the-nation safe staffing ratios led to more lives saved, shorter hospital stays and general improvement in quality care.
   
• The odds of patient death increases by 7 percent for each additional patient the nurse must take on at one time.
   
• Safe nurse staffing reduces turnover in hospitals. When ratios are blown out of proportion, there is an increase in nursing turnover and a decrease in patient satisfaction.  All of this increases the cost of care.
   
• Hospitals with lower nurse staffing levels have higher rates of pneumonia, shock, cardiac arrest, urinary tract infections and upper gastrointestinal bleeds.
   
• In California, hospital income rose dramatically after ratios were implemented, from $12.5 billion from 1994 to 2003, to more than $20.6 billion from 2004 to 2010.

Cities and counties across New York State are stepping up and passing resolutions supporting the Safe Staffing legislation. Erie County is the latest to approve such a resolution, joining Ulster County, Schenectady County, Amherst, Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, North Collins, Niskayuna and West Seneca.

Learn more at nystaffingsaveslives.org.