Registered Nurses from the New York State Nurses Association, Patient Advocates Participate in Four Coordinated Rallies to Say ‘Enough is Enough’ – It’s Time to Pass Safe Staffing Now
In the Past Three Years, Tens of Thousands of Complaints Have Been Filed Across the State Because of Staffing Issues
New York, NY — Registered Nurses from the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and patient advocates rallied today to say enough is enough, and to demand that the State Legislature pass the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act immediately. Today’s rallies were in Manhattan, Queens, the Hudson Valley as well as on Long Island.
The Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act (S.03330/A.01532) will:
- Make sure there are enough nurses at the bedside of patients.
- Set a cap on the number of patients a nurse is responsible for at any given time.
- Establish safe nurse-to-patient ratios in all of New York Hospitals.
- Require hospitals to staff nurses in the specific unit for which they are trained
- Require hospitals to be more transparent.
The current sponsorship numbers are impressive and include legislators from across the state: 102 members in the Assembly and 36 members in the Senate.
The results of studies are clear: patient outcomes are better and hospitals thrive when units are properly staffed by nurses.
Nurses have been complaining about understaffing in hospital units as well as raising quality and safety concerns for years.
Our nurses fill out “Protests of Assignment” (POA) when care issues arise and share the POAs with hospital management without delay.
In 2017, at hospitals where our nurses provide care, tens of thousands of nurses signed POAs and the vast majority of them pertained to understaffing.
From 2015 to 2017, in hospitals serviced by NYSNA nurses, over 69,000 POAs were submitted with signatures from over 280,000 nurses.
More than 80% of those were because of safe staffing issues.
Yet understaffing persists in most hospitals and on most units.
California enacted Safe Staffing in 2004, and it has been successful. Reports clearly show:
- Significant improvement in outcomes for patients
- Lower emergency room wait times
- Consistent numbers of support staff
- Better financial performance for Hospitals
We call on the legislature to pass the bill without delay.
It’s the right thing to do for the people of New York.
For more information and to see the current television ad running across the state, go to www.campaignforpatientsafety.org.
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