Why CT needs mandatory nurse staffing ratios
I have been in health care for 15 years, first as a patient care associate and then as a registered nurse. Over the last few years, I have seen an unfortunate change surrounding nursing in hospitals: Profits are continuously being put before our patients. Short staffing is a technique used by hospitals to increase profits. Reimbursement by Medicaid, Medicare and insurance companies for nurses is part of the bed fee just as your meals and room accommodations. Because of this, nurses are viewed as an expense as hospitals are not reimbursed for our time and skills.
As hospitals and the public called us heroes, we were walking into work wearing the same N95 mask for multiple shifts when they are designed for one-time use. We put ourselves and our families at risk when others were able to work from home. We watched patients die at an unprecedented rate, but we still showed up because we knew that the public needed our help. We rose to the occasion during the pandemic but now nurses need help to protect our patients. We need hospital administrators and the state legislators to know the dangers of short staffing and we need them to take action to protect our patients and your family members.
In Connecticut there are 86,483 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. Of those nurses 39,135 are actively working in nursing in the state. Some not working in nursing are retired and others are practicing in other states. This leaves the question why have the other nurses stepped away from nursing? Thousands of nurses from across the United States participated in a survey that reported 95% reported feeling burnt out in the last three years. Of these 95% of nurses, 49.7% report they are actively looking for either a less stressful nursing position or have left or are looking to leave nursing due to burnout. It would be reasonable to make the jump and say that the conditions nurses are working under are appalling and that there is not a shortage of nurses but a shortage of nurses willing to work in unsafe conditions.
The conditions nurses are expected to practice under are unsustainable.
The nursing ratios are unsafe for you as a patient and for the nurses working to protect you. We are all at risk of losing. When you or a loved one is hospitalized, an informed consent is signed. That form states you have been informed of the risks and benefits of the procedure and care associated with your stay. This includes nurse to patient ratios. Are you comfortable with this? This is my attempt at informing the public of the possible risks of understaffing.
There have been evidence-based studies conducted that show that safe staffing reduces the risk to patients. The risks of short staffing in nursing are hospital acquired infections, higher readmission rates, medication errors, patient falls, skin breakdown and death.
With these risks in mind, California became the first state to pass mandatory nurse to patient ratios in 1999. California’s legislation had a plan to implement the required increase in staff incrementally over a few years. There has been research done in the years since implementation on patient outcomes. The results of this research show that hospitals that have a higher compliance with California ratios, the less likely nurses are to report complaints from patients and families, verbal abuse, quality of care that is poor or fair, lack of confidence their patient can manage their care after discharge, and their workload caused them to miss a patient’s condition change.
If passed in Connecticut this legislation would not only help improve the working conditions of nurses across that state but would provide better patient outcomes. As nurses we strive to provide the best care possible for our patients. We have been asked to do more with less for decades but now it is impacting our patients, and we will not stand idly by.