Better RN
Staffing:
A Cost
Effective
Lifesaver

Medical research has established a direct link between nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes. Now, a number of experts are making a financial argument for limiting the number of patients a nurse is assigned at one time:

• The journal Medical Care finds that minimum RN staffing levels are more cost-effective than common lifesaving practices such as clot-busting medications for heart attack and stroke, and cancer screenings.
  
• The journal Health Affairs reports that an “unequivocal business case” can be made for increasing the level of registered nurse staffing in hospitals—a move that could pay for itself in fewer patient deaths, shorter hospital stays and decreased rates of costly medical complications.

Yet hospitals continue to hold back the one life-saving measure that improves the odds for every patient: a limit on the number of patients a nurse is forced to care for.

Nurses prevent bad things from happening. They are the difference between a good hospital stay and a poor one. Limiting the number of patients a nurse is assigned at one time protects patients and is cost effective.

You can help nurses protect you and your family. Please, call 617.722.2000 and ask your legislators to support The Nurses’ Bill, House 2663.

H. 2663: Protects Patient Safety, Is Cost Effective.