This letter advocates for passing bill HR 1907, which would mandate nurse-to-patient ratios in hospital settings. It argues that reasonable ratios would improve patient safety and outcomes by allowing nurses enough time with each patient. While California's 2004 law requiring a 1:4 ratio did not conclusively show reduced errors or higher satisfaction, inadequate staffing negatively impacts both patient care and nurse well-being. The letter urges the congressman to support researching this bill's potential benefits of capping patient assignments to enable high-quality nursing care.
This letter advocates for passing bill HR 1907, which would mandate nurse-to-patient ratios in hospital settings. It argues that reasonable ratios would improve patient safety and outcomes by allowing nurses enough time with each patient. While California's 2004 law requiring a 1:4 ratio did not conclusively show reduced errors or higher satisfaction, inadequate staffing negatively impacts both patient care and nurse well-being. The letter urges the congressman to support researching this bill's potential benefits of capping patient assignments to enable high-quality nursing care.
This letter advocates for passing bill HR 1907, which would mandate nurse-to-patient ratios in hospital settings. It argues that reasonable ratios would improve patient safety and outcomes by allowing nurses enough time with each patient. While California's 2004 law requiring a 1:4 ratio did not conclusively show reduced errors or higher satisfaction, inadequate staffing negatively impacts both patient care and nurse well-being. The letter urges the congressman to support researching this bill's potential benefits of capping patient assignments to enable high-quality nursing care.
There is a new bill that is being proposed, HR 1907 before the 113 Congress in favor of mandating nurse to patient ratios within the hospital settings. It was very exciting and encouraging to read over this bill, as I am a Registered Nurse and I feel a lot of the items listed within your bill are pertinent to nursing retention and patient safety. It was quite disturbing to discover though, that this proposal is predicted to have a 0% chance of passing. Bill number H.R. 1907 should be passed in order to ensure patients receive the quality of care they are entitled to by keeping the nurse to patient ratio in a manageable range in combination with the acuity of the patients, thus improving patient satisfaction and outcomes along with increased job satisfaction for the nurse which will decrease nursing burnout and turn over as nurses are able to provide safe, skilled and timely care. th
In January of 2004, California was the first state to put in place a
safety plan for the patients and nurses in mandating the nurse to patient ratio remain at a 1:4 ratio in the general care settings. This was done in an effort to decrease occurrences of errors by staff, decrease injuries to patients, up to and including death. A lower nurse to patient ratio was thought to also increase patient and staff satisfaction. After eight years of instituting this policy into practice the results are inconclusive that a 1:4 nurse to patient ratio is working and ongoing research is needed, as many of the surveys did not show a decrease in error or an increase in patient satisfaction. Serratt (2013) states at the end of her article, Nursing leaders must critically evaluate and support future research to assess the benefits and risks of this type of staffing policy ( Serratt, 2013, p. 585). Although Californias research was not overtly conclusive that the answer to a lot of nursing issues would be solved in lowering the
nurse to patient ratio, this motion can not be dismissed either. In
mandating the maximum number of patients a nurse can have during their shift, shields a nurse from being forced to take on more patients than is safe and practical. This would enable the Registered Nurse (RN) to increase the amount of time spent with each patient at the bedside tending to the ill. It is this time at the bedside, that drives up patient satisfaction scores and increases patient outcomes as the RN is able to listen to and engage the patient in his or her own care. During this valuable time allotted with their patients, they are able to identify changes in the patient condition and intervene as medically necessary in a timely manner, potentially improving their patients prognosis. There is a lot of research and articles to support this movement within nursing journals. For instance, in the Journal of Clinical Nursing, Hinno and her colleagues addresses this situation stating, inadequate staffing and unrealistic workloads place an unnecessary burden on nursing staff, reduce the quality of care that nurses are able to provide and lead to fatigue, unachievable expectations and uncompleted tasks (Hinno, S., Partanen, P., & Vehvilinen-Julkunen, K, 2012, p. 1585). This statement addresses both the effects of how low nurse to patient ratios have on both the provider and the recipient. When staff is forced to take on more patients, this takes it toll on a nurses spirit and wellbeing and over time chips away at their desire to return to this setting. This is the perfect setup for burnout as staff is unable to keep up with the daily demands of work. Patterson notes in her publication that, patients in a 1:8 assignment, had a 31% increase in mortality (Patterson, 2010). These statistics are frightful. In conclusion, I must plead that you persuade your colleagues to at least research this bill and make an informed decision on passing this bill. Capping off a maximum number of patients a nurse can safely care for on a general care unit is a start in the right direction to improving patient outcomes, not to mention safety to both staff and patients. By passing this bill they will ensure that their constituents will receive the best care a nurse can administer due to the appropriate nurse to patient ratio enforced through the passing of this bill- HR 1907.
Sincerely, Pamela A. Johnston RN, CPHON
4329 Shrew Trail
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
References
Hinno, S., Partanen, P., & Vehvilinen-Julkunen, K. (2012). Nursing
activities, nurse staffing and adverse patient outcomes as perceived by hospital nurses. Journal Of Clinical Nursing, 21(11/12), 1584-1593. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03956.x
Patterson, J. (2011). The effects of nurse to patient ratios. Nursing
Times, 107(2), 22-25.
Serratt, T. (2013). California's Nurse-to-Patient Ratios, Part 3. Journal Of
I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this examination (or other material turned in for credit) nor do have reason to believe that anyone else has. Signature: Pamela Johnston