Massachusetts Nurse :: September 2005

Legislators, wide-range of advocacy organizations voice support for the nurses’ bill, H. 2663

On July 13 the Legislature’s Public Health Committee heard extensive testimony in support of the nurses’ bill, H.2663, to set a safety standard by limiting the number of patients a nurse is forced to care for at one time.

More than two dozen legislators testified before the committee or via written testimony. Only one legislator voiced support for the hospital association’s bill.

The coalition’s point of view

“This legislation will be one step closer to ensuring that patients receive safe, “quality” health care and are treated with dignity and respect. To continue to ignore this situation will result in compromising the care of prospective patients. The time to act is now.”

~ New England Patients’ Rights Group

“The need for the subject legislation has reached a critical state. Here in the commonwealth, understaffing of registered nurses is dangerous to patients. According to the latest medical research, the most important question a patient should ask when entering a hospital is, ‘How many patients will my nurse be caring for?’ The answer can have life-or-death consequences.”

~ New England Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

“The American Lung Association of Massachusetts serves a large patient population ranging from elderly patients with lung cancer and COPD to very young patients with asthma and other respiratory illnesses. It is our concern that these patients are provided with the best possible care. A safe minimum staffing ratio would help to guarantee that this population receives the attention and care it needs.”

~ The American Lung Association

“When we review the statistics and find that nurses intercept 86 percent of medication errors and that for each additional patient assigned to an RN the likelihood of death within 30 days rises by 7 percent, we know that we do not want to be on the wrong end of those statistics.”

~ UFCW Local 1459

“ urrently Massachusetts has more nurses than any state in the country, per capita. Nurses, burned out with high patient loads are leaving the bedside. Many nurses are no longer willing to work in situations where they are unable to provide proper care for their patients. The only way to protect patients and to retain skilled nurses in our hospitals is to establish safe staffing standards.”

~ Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders for Health

“COFAR is particularly concerned about the nursing crisis in Massachusetts because of the population we serve. People with mental retardation are extremely vulnerable, even more so when they are ill and in a hospital. They are unable to advocate for themselves and nurses are often their only voice. The Department of Mental Retardation employs or contracts with nurses in many different settings. It is crucial to the wellbeing of people with mental retardation that an adequate number of nurses remain available to help take care of our family members with mental retardation.”

~ Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded

“The nurses’ legislation is the only step that will actually protect patients. It is a simple and direct plan that will limit the number of patients a nurse can care for, in the interest of giving patients better, safer care.”

~ Massachusetts Senior Action Council

“H.2663 sets a patient safety standard. It establishes minimum RN-to-patient ratios for acute care hospitals and creates a standard patient classification system that measures patient needs and severity of illness. It’s straightforward. It’s common sense. And it’s simple.

~ Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO

“The hospital administrators’ bill maintains the status quo. Under its plan nurses would continue to care for too many patients at once. What’s worse, the hospital industry’s legislation sets no limit on the number of patients they can assign a nurse.”

~ The Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care

“It is time to stop wasting health care dollars and needlessly jeopardizing the safety of patients and the nurses who care for them. Safe, minimum RN staffing levels eliminate unnecessary complications, reduce preventable medical errors and curb extended length-of-stays saving precious health care dollars.”

~ Jobs with Justice