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Patient
Safety Wins: A Real Compromise on Nurse Staffing
15
hours of negotiation yields important patient safety measures
and protections for hospitals
The
highlights of the compromise bill legislative leaders developed
include:
Protects
patient safety
-
Directs the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to develop
and implement minimum RN staffing standards and an enforceable
limit on the number of patients assigned to each registered
nurse.
-
The
staffing levels would be set by DPH after public hearings and
will be based on scientific research, patient outcomes and expert
testimony.
-
Standardized criteria (acuity based patient classification system)
to adjust the nurses’ patient assignment in order to better
meet patient care needs.
-
Prohibits the dangerous practice of mandatory overtime.
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Assures that hospitals cannot delegate to unlicensed personnel
duties which demand nursing expertise.
Assures
reasonable process for hospitals to comply
-
Financial hardship waiver process for hospitals
-
Ample 'ramp-up' time to meet the new standards: teaching
hospitals 2008, community hospitals 2010.
-
Flexibility in staffing: Calls on DPH to create a standardized
acuity-based patient classification system, which is a standardized
formula for rating the illness level of patients allowing an
objective tool to adjust RN staffing to meet patient care needs.
-
DPH will have oversight with the ability to investigate
and to utilize their discretion in any non-compliance review
process
Ensures
a continued strong pipeline of nurses into the profession
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Creates programs to increase nurse faculty in our schools
of nursing.
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Creates nurse recruitment initiatives to assure a continued
supply of nurses, including nursing scholarships and mentorship
programs.
-
Provides for refresher programs to assist nurses who,
with the passage of enforceable limits on patient assignments,
expressed a strong desire in returning to practice at the hospital
bedside.
Everybody
wins here; hospitals, nurses, and most important of all, the
patients.
The
23,000 members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association joins
with the 104 member Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients
in applauding the efforts of all involved to reach this compromise
and in doing so address this important patient safety issue.
The
compromise addresses the objections expressed by the hospital
industry
| Hospital
industry objections: |
The
compromise bill: |
| Legislators
setting staffing levels. |
Directs
the DPH to undergo a vigorous regulatory process utilizing
research, data, patient outcome information and expert testimony
to develop safe standards and limits. |
| Flexibility. |
Staffing
based on patients needs. |
| Financial
strapped hospitals ability to comply. |
Provides
hospitals in legitimate financial distress a time-limited
waiver process to comply. |
| The
penalty and fine process was too strict. |
Provides
for a prima facia process, reduced fines and discretion
of DPH during non-compliance review. |
| Need
to focus more on recruitment of nurses. |
Includes
nurse faculty and recruitment initiatives put forth by their
own bill. |
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