Have you experienced the effects of unsafe staffing in a hospital or nursing home? Make your voice heard! Contact the New York State Department of health now to tell them why we need Safe Staffing for healthcare workers: health.sm.StaffingStudy@health.ny.gov
When nurses care for two to three times the patients they can safely manage, the research shows the chances of preventable death, hospital acquired infections, and adverse outcomes increase.
Hospital CEOs are paid millions of dollars a year based on financial performance, not how well our mothers, fathers, newborns, and loved ones recover. When the average hospital executive makes 75 times more than the average worker at the bedside, but investments aren’t being made in direct patient care, something is wrong.
CWA healthcare workers are calling on our legislators to guarantee hospitals and nursing homes have the staffing they need for quality care.
2020 Bills and Materials:
Assembly Bill (A.2954 Gunther) / Senate Bill (S.1032 Rivera)
Flyers: Call Your Assemblymember / Call Your Senator / Combined
Further Reading:
NY lawmakers call for minimum staffing rules at hospitals, nursing homes
H+H Nurses Approve Pact Setting Staffing Ratios, Clinical Path
Letter: Set standard staffing ratio for all New York hospitals
Mount Sinai Hospital emergency department is a ‘war zone,’ workers say
New York State studying "safe-staffing" at nursing homes, hospitals
NYC nurses rally for legislation to increase staffing levels
Nursing levels at New York hospitals face new scrutiny
Nurses Rally For Government To Intervene In Staffing Shortage Crisis
The Rewards and Challenges of Being on the Front Line of Care
Advocates call for mandatory minimum staffing at NY nursing homes
State to study adopting minimum staffing levels for nursing homes, hospitals
Out of Patience: NYC Nurses Take On Hospitals For Better Staffing
Nurses Strike in New York: Threat Increases Over ‘Safe Staffing’ Levels
10,000 NYC nurses are about to go on strike over understaffing
Nurses At 3 NYC Hospitals Threaten Strike For Safe Staffing
Letter: Proper staffing levels ensure quality care
Letters: Safe Staffing bill allows better care
Letters: Safe Staffing is worth supporting
Letters: Safe Staffing editorial failed to consider patients
Safe Staffing News Outside of NY
Nurses will continue to fight for safe patient care
Caregivers picket in Pawtucket for better staffing and a living wage
Patient infections 15% 'more likely' when nurse staffing low, study finds
Nursing organizations launch campaign to address safety and health issues
Hospital Workers in Toledo, Ohio, Strike for Safe Patient Care
National Nurses Week: A Call in Illinois for Safer Staffing
Nurses Lobbying in Harrisburg for Safe Staffing Ratios
Analysis: US nurse shortages and the fight for better staffing ratios
Pennsylvania nurses rally for law to set safe patient limits
Nursing assistants push for legislation that would address staffing levels at Oregon hospitals
Hospitals fighting against bills to establish mandatory nurse patient ratios
Minimum nurse-staffing mandates benefit nurses, patients, report says
The Facts:
- Outcomes are better for patients when staffing levels meet those established in California, including an increase in lives saved, shorter hospital stays, and general improvement in quality care (Health Services Research, 2010).
- The odds of patient death increase by 7% for each additional patient the nurse must take on at one time (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002).
- 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 (Nursing Administration Quarterly, 2011).
- Nurse understaffing in hospital ICU increases the risk of infections like pneumonia, which not only lead to injury and death, but also cost the hospital significant amount of money. Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers alone have been estimated to cost $8.5 billion per year (Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research Pub. No. 04-0029, 2004).