NEW YORK NURSE: January 2013
In towns big and small, nurse staffing is at a crisis point.
Communities throughout New York State must come together to demand state legislators pass a bill to limit the number of patients a nurse can be forced to take on at one time. This is why dozens of RNs from Olean General Hospital and supporters took part in a rally on Nov. 16 to support the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act.
“There’s so much that needs to be done,” Olean General RN Kris Powell. “Educating patients and families, getting patients their pain medication, helping them to feel safe. We want to have good outcomes and not have these patients readmitted. Unfortunately – the way staffing is – ratios throughout the state can go as high as seven, eight, nine, to one.”
Joining the RNs were members of the Western New York chapter of the Civil Service Employees Association and the Communication Workers of America Health Care Coordinating Council.
Both Republicans and Democrats in Albany are proposing safe staffing legislation for the upcoming session because the need has never been more urgent. An increasing number of studies are finding that safe staffing levels can save patient’s lives.