100+ Arizona Registered Nurses Demand "Patient Safety Now!"

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 11 Feb 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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More than 100 bedside RNs from across the state will descend upon the state Capitol this Thursday to demand legislators act urgently on H.B. 2186, the Arizona Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2009. Seniors, legislators, and community members will join the nurses in a speak-out for safe staffing in the state's hospitals.

The bill addresses a key patient care loophole in Arizona law. RNs in the state's critical care units work under legally mandated RN-to-patient ratios, guaranteeing that none is overburdened with an unsafe number of patients. However, patients on every other unit are denied this life-saving patient safety protection. Reams of research data prove that safe ratios save the lives of patients who would otherwise be lost.

March and Speak-out for Safe Staffing - Thursday
DATE: Thursday. Feb. 12, 2009
TIME: 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
PLACE: In Front of the Capitol - Phoenix, AZ

The Arizona Hospital Patient Protection Act would:

- Set minimum RN-to-patient staffing ratios.
- Assure RNs the legal guarantee to serve as patient advocates.
- Establish real whistle-blower protections for RNs who expose unsafe conditions.

About NNOC

The National Nurses Organizing Committee, founded by the California Nurses Association in 2004, today represents 85,000 RNs in 50 states, making it the largest and fastest-growing association of direct-care RNs in the nation. Learn more at http://www.calnurses.org.

Background of HB 2186

Ratios:

The portion of the law establishing minimum, safe RN-to-patient ratios is modeled on landmark laws in California and Australia which are directly improving patient care in those areas, and attracting RNs from around the world to practice their profession in a safe atmosphere.

The Arizona RN ratios would require minimum ratios by unit - a floor for patient safety, with increased staffing when needed based on the severity of patient illness. Research has shown the need for such an approach.

This approach has been shown to save lives. One study (The American Journal of Public Health, August 2005) found that cutting ratios to one RN per four patients could save 72,000 lives nationally, while another (Journal of the American Medical Association, October 22, 2002) found that up to 22,000 American lives are lost each year due to unsafe ratios. Other studies have linked everything from the rise of staph infections to the spread of pneumonia to unsafe ratios for direct-care nurses.

For more information on ratios, journalists can download a PDF of the booklet: "The Ratios Solution."

Patient Advocacy and Whistle-blower Protections

Nurses have an ethical obligation to serve as patient advocates, which in practice can mean standing up to doctors, hospital executives, insurance representatives, or others. This ethical obligation and practice ensures that all care is provided in the exclusive interests of patients, and not based on budgetary considerations.

Arizona law does not currently guarantee this obligation for RNs, nor does it provide strong whistle-blower protections for RNs who challenge unsafe care for their patients.

California Nurses Association