Nurses in New York are urging legislators to combat a chronic staffing problem in hospitals and nursing homes by establishing legal requirements for minimum staffing levels.
From the Associated Press:
California already has such a law, and the proposal has been debated in New York for years. This year it has bipartisan support in the Legislature. Nurses will gather in Albany on Tuesday to push for the bill.
Hospital executives say such a mandate would raise health care costs for patients, and that state lawmakers shouldn’t constrain hospitals by dictating unnecessary and inflexible rules.
Hospitals and nursing homes estimate the mandate would add about $3 billion a year in costs statewide, said Dennis Whalen, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities.
Whalen said health care facilities already set staffing levels incorporating the input of nurses. He said a “one-size-fits-all” approach doesn’t make sense when hospitals around the state vary so much when it comes to size and scope of practice.
The legislation would set out different staffing ratios for specific units. Operating rooms and trauma emergency units would have one nurse for each patient. Emergency rooms and newborn units would have one nurse for three patients. Rehabilitation units would have one nurse for every five patients.
California’s staffing mandate passed in 2004, and a study in 2010 by University of Pennsylvania researchers confirmed that lower staffing ratios are correlated to fewer patient deaths, AP reports.
Photo by Orbis via Flickr CC License.
