Ohio RNs, Patients Call For Action On Hospital Safety Nurses, Patients, Legislators To Speak Out June 17

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 13 Jun 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Ohio registered nurses and patients are calling for legislative action to make Ohio hospitals safer for patients and strengthen the ability of RNs to expose unsafe conditions and advocate for patient protections.

At a Columbus press conference Tuesday, RNs and patients will express concerns about unsafe conditions prevalent in many Ohio hospitals, and talk about how legislative reform -- such as minimum, specific nurse-to-patient staffing ratios -- can save lives. The event is sponsored by the NNOC Ohio (National Nurses Organizing Committee).

Rep. Kathleen Chandler of Kent, who will speak at the press conference, says she is exploring introducing specific legislation to establish ratios for acute-care hospitals, and will be seeking input from all interested parties. "It is important to recognize that nurse-patient ratios are directly related to patient safety in hospitals," Chandler says.

What: Press conference with RNs, patients, legislators
When: Tuesday, June 17, 11 a.m.
Where: Ohio Statehouse, Plaza steps
South High Street, Columbus

Ohio nurses are also calling for legislation action to provide whistle-blower protection for RNs who report unsafe hospital conditions or for refusing unsafe patient care assignments, and legal recognition of the right of RNs to act as advocates for their patients rather than for the economic interests of their hospital employer.

RNs who have been organizing with NNOC Ohio for three years and recruiting nurses for improving conditions for RNs and patients say the legislative reform is needed now.

"This is a historic day here in Ohio where we, as nurses, can lead the charge in patient protection reform," says Dayton RN Rhonda Risner Hanos.

"Ohio patients need to be assured that they will have a skilled professional at their hospital bedside when they need one," said Cleveland RN Terry Gallagher.

Steve Cagan of Cleveland Heights, who will speak at the press conference, recalls his experience at a prominent Cleveland hospital. "The nurses were obviously short staffed. I saw nurses at times literally running into my room, trying to get to everything they had to do. This has bad consequences."

Also speaking will be Linda Fearer of Youngstown whose husband Ray died after being discharged from a hospital after an elective spinal procedure despite a dangerously low blood pressure and experiencing confusion and "whole body shocks."

The nurse who discharged him was caring for 13 post-operative patients, Fearer recalls. If the RN caring for her husband had only had four patients to care for, as the bill requires, Fearer believes he would probably be alive today.

"In many acute-care hospitals across Ohio, nurse-to-patient ratios on medical/surgical floors can be as bad as one RN to 14 patients," says Marilyn Albert, a Cleveland RN.

"In about half of intensive care units in our state, the usual ratio is one RN to three patients, and often in intensive care, a nurse cares for more than three patients, and as many as six at a time, because nurses are responsible for each other's patients when the nurse has to leave the unit," Albert says.

"Legislative reform with minimum RN ratios translates into lives saved. There should be no higher priority in our hospitals than safety," said Michelle Mahon, a Cleveland RN.

Rhonda Risner Hanos noted that there is voluminous research documenting a link between improved RN staffing and patient safety.

"No one else in the healthcare setting," she said, "is as uniquely qualified as the bedside nurse to carry out the commitment to provide the best and safest care possible. We can free ourselves from the 'customer model' mentality that we see being carried out every day. Patient safety is our goal, not the 'bottom line' of the institutions in which we work."

The press conference immediately precedes the dedication of the Ladies Gallery at the Statehouse, a celebration of women winning the right to vote in Ohio 89 years ago.

The call for ratios in Ohio follows the success story of a ratio law in California that has led to improved patient care and helped mitigate the nursing shortage in California.

Since the law was signed, 86,000 more licensed RNs have joined California's workforce.

NNOC Ohio is an affiliate of the 80,000 member National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association. NNOC/CNA, which sponsored the California law, is also sponsoring similar bills in Arizona, Illinois, Maine, and Texas.

California Nurses Association

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