Taking the Lead on Quality Patient Care & Safe Staffing

We all want to receive the safest patient care. A growing body of research shows that care by a registered nurse has a significant and direct impact on health outcomes and patient safety.

Establishing evidence-based nurse staffing levels protects the public and will ease the nurse shortage by reducing burnout among our overworked nurse workforce.

Patients and their families have the right to know they are receiving safe care.  Hospitals should provide patients and families information related to nurse staffing and health outcomes so that they can make informed choices about their care

Research shows nursing's critical role

• For every 1000 hospitalized patients, an increase by 1 RN FTE per patient day would save 5 patient lives in ICUs, 5 patient lives on medical floors, and 6 surgical patient lives. (2007, Medical Care)
  
• A Nevada study found that 30% of recent RN grads left in 1 year and 57% left by 2 years.  The most frequent reason for leaving was due to unsafe nurse-patient ratios (26%). (2005, Journal of Nursing Administration)
  
• Nurses are responsible for intercepting 86% of medical errors before the mistakes affected patients.  Between 44,000 - 98,000 Americans die each year from medical errors--more deaths per year than from motor vehicle accidents (43,458), breast cancer (42,297), or AIDS (16,516).  (2000, Institute of Medicine)
  
• Inadequate staffing was found to be a contributing factor in 24% of all unanticipated events that resulted in patient death, injury, or permanent loss of function. (2002, JCAHO)
  
• A higher proportion of hours of registered nursing care per day are associated with better outcomes for hospitalized patients (2002, New England Journal of Medicine) and these outcomes can result in significant cost-savings to the system. (2006, Health Affairs)
  

The Steps to Ensure Safe & Quality Care

Step 1: Pass House Bill 3123/Senate Bill 6734 (Supported by SEIU, other nurse unions & Washington hospitals)

• Labor management nurse staffing committees in each hospital to develop, oversee and evaluate a nurse staffing plan.
  
• If staffing plan is not accepted, the hospital CEO must provide a written explanation.
  
• Staffing plan and actual staffing posted publicly on each unit.

Read Washington Legislative HB 3123
Read Washington Legislative SB 6734   

Jan Batt, RN
General Medical (9SW), Swedish Medical Center

This staffing bill is an important first step to insure both quality care and nurse retention. Nurses leave the profession when we are exhausted and worried that we cannot give safe care.  For the sake of our patients, we need to support this bill (HB 3123/SB 6734).

Call your legislator at 1-800-562-6000 to support and pass HB 3123/ SB 6734.

Step 2: Contract BargainingOver 7,000 SEIU Healthcare 1199NW RNs are bargaining together this year to strengthen staffing contract language.

Step 3: Coalition WorkStatewide Committees Include:

• SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
  
• Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA)
  
• NW Organization of Nurse Executives
  
• WSNA and UFCW Local 141

Coalition Objectives:

• Support nurse staffing committees through regional trainings on evidence based guidelines
  
• Identify critical care nursing sensitive quality indicators, share nurse staffing guidelines and best practices.
  
• Explore joint legislative projects on nurse staffing.

For details about the coalition agreement, download the Memorandum of Agreement

Step 4: 2009 Legislation Nursing Staffing StandardsBuilding on 2008 legislation and the results from our statewide committee, pass legislation to set minimum nurse staffing standards for hospitals.


Download the nurse staffing fact sheet
Download a recent study on RN staffing