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Mass. Nurses and Seniors Converge on State House on March 12th To Call for Legislation to Ensure Safe Nurse-to-Patient Ratios
Legislation is Key to Improving Deteriorating
Patient Care, Deplorable Working Conditions for Nurses & to Solving the
Nursing Shortage
Editor's Note: Contact the MNA to locate nurses attending from
your coverage area at 781.249.0430
Hundreds of nurses and senior citizens from all across the Commonwealth
will
converge on the State House for a "Nurse Lobby Day" event sponsored by the
Massachusetts Nurses Association, which will be held on Tuesday, March 12,
2002 from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the Great Hall. The nurses of
Massachusetts, with the endorsement and support from the Mass. Senior Action
Council, are mobilizing for passage of landmark legislation that is designed
to guarantee the public access to appropriate levels of nursing care and
to prevent the unwarranted use of unlicensed personnel in place of qualified
professionals. According to the MNA, inadequate nurse staffing levels and
unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios in all health care settings are the principle
cause of the nursing shortage, the rise in emergency room diversions, an
increase in medical errors, mandatory overtime, decreased satisfaction of
nurses with their practice, a dramatic rise in injuries among nurses, and
a dramatic decline in the quality of patient care.
In response to the current crisis, Sen. Robert Creedon and Rep. Christine
Canavan, co-chairs of a special legislative Nursing Commission, have filed
HB 1186, An Act Relative to Sufficient Nurse Staffing to Ensure Safe Care, which
would mandate the creation, posting and monitoring of appropriate nurse staffing
ratios in all health care settings that are sufficient to
care for the planned and unplanned needs of patients. The event will feature
presentations by nurses and legislators on the legislation and will culminate
with visits by the nurses to their respective legislators to lobby for their
support. Similar legislation was passed in the state of California,
and last month California became the first state in the nation to mandate
nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.
The fact is nurse-staffing ratios in our hospitals are inadequate and often
times unsafe. While a nurse on a typical floor should be caring for
no more than five patients (which will be the law in California), it is not
uncommon for nurses in Massachusetts be assigned eight to 10 patients.
In the last 14 months, numerous studies have appeared that underscore the
nurses' argument for this bill. Last Spring, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services released a study that showed a direct link between
poor nurse staffing levels and a variety of patient complications, including
thousands of deaths each year. Last summer, a special legislative commission
issued its report on the state of nursing and nursing practice in the Commonwealth,
in which they identified a nursing crisis in our health care system, primarily
driven by issues of poor staffing and mandatory overtime in Massachusetts
hospitals.
WHEN:
MNA Safe Staffing Lobby Day: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 from 9:30 a.m.
to noon.
WHERE:
State House (Great Hall)
WHO:
Nurses and seniors from all parts of the state will attend the event, as
will legislators with an interest in health care issues. To arrange interviews
before the event, call the MNA for sources in your area.
CONTACT:
David Schildmeier: 800.882.2056 x717, 781.249.0430
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