Nurse ratio bill in Massachusetts
A recent bill in Massachusetts has passed the House of Representatives that would establish “ideal” and minimum nurse-to-patient ratios and also would ban mandatory overtime for nurses. This is similar to legislation already in place in California. Nurses there have also won some key recent court battles validating the legality of the current standards.
Hospitals violating the standards in the Massachusetts bill could face fines or loss of their license. The bill now goes to the Senate, but no formal time frame has been decided.
The Mass. Nurses Association applauded the 133-20 vote while the hospital association reportedly called it “deeply disappointing”. The spokesman for the hospital association, Paul Wingle, said, “We cannot or will not accept micromanagement and command-and-control regulation that ties the hands of hospitals.” But they certainly don't mind micromanaging nurses or physicians and continually support measures that does just that.
We have said for years that someone needs to set some minimum standards to protect and maintain appropriate patient care. I have said that Floyd could choose to do this and begin setting some community standards. It would be a great marketing tool and begin to make Floyd a hospital that more and more nurses chose for employment. But under our current administration and their philosophy, this will likely never happen until they are forced to do so.
The Hospital Associations have lots of money and Political Action Committees (PAC’s) on their side and therefore I am sure that this fight is not over in California, Massachusetts or elsewhere.
Does the statement above from the Hospital Association really make you believe that patient care is their first priority?
Hospitals violating the standards in the Massachusetts bill could face fines or loss of their license. The bill now goes to the Senate, but no formal time frame has been decided.
The Mass. Nurses Association applauded the 133-20 vote while the hospital association reportedly called it “deeply disappointing”. The spokesman for the hospital association, Paul Wingle, said, “We cannot or will not accept micromanagement and command-and-control regulation that ties the hands of hospitals.” But they certainly don't mind micromanaging nurses or physicians and continually support measures that does just that.
We have said for years that someone needs to set some minimum standards to protect and maintain appropriate patient care. I have said that Floyd could choose to do this and begin setting some community standards. It would be a great marketing tool and begin to make Floyd a hospital that more and more nurses chose for employment. But under our current administration and their philosophy, this will likely never happen until they are forced to do so.
The Hospital Associations have lots of money and Political Action Committees (PAC’s) on their side and therefore I am sure that this fight is not over in California, Massachusetts or elsewhere.
Does the statement above from the Hospital Association really make you believe that patient care is their first priority?
posted by Anonymous at 6:00 AM
7 Comments:
I'm not sure what that statement says about the Hospital Assoc. mandate, I do hope patient care is a top priority for all in the health care field. As I thought about your post I remembered we have been in a nursing shortage for years now. I have also been a patient in Mass hospitals several times during this period. The last time was for the birth of my son 4 years ago and I was aware that the balance of power was shifting from doctors to nurses, who frankly seemed to be the top of the food chain - at least in the big research hospitals in Boston. Mostly I understand this as a simple issue of supply and demand. Demand for nurses has outpaced the supply for long enough to have given nurses increasing collective bargaining power which is now being expressed not just in higher wages and respect, but in working conditions like # of hours. Since the corporations that run hospitals like Humana can't outsource nursing jobs to India (and you know they would if they could) it stands to reason nursing will continue to see it's power and wages rise, which the administrators deal with my making them work more patients...which seems like a bad thing for patients, as you suggest. But from what I've read it's really a lack of teachers that is stagnating the supply of new nurses.
I blogged on the nursing shortage on feb 21,2006.
Although, your assessment is partially true, there are some misconceptions about just increasing the teachers and students and this was discussed in the earlier blog.
Your other perspectives are very accurate and those same things will happen here eventually. It would be nice if we tried to proactive about the problem.
Just curious...did the Massachusetts bill also increase Medicare/Medicaid funding to pay for the additionally mandated staff? When nurse to patient ratios fall below mandated minimums due to unexpected employee absences, what does the bill suggest that hospitals do in the absence of mandatory overtime? Send patients home?
Minimum standards sound to me like a great idea, if funded. The news over the past couple of years, however, would indicate that government and insurance company reimbursements have actually been falling. Since many hospitals, nursing homes and corporately owned facilities have been struggling financially, just how realistic is this?
What about cutting administrators' salaries & perks to help ease the financial distress of corporations/hospitals?!
Hhhhhhmmmm...?
Roz Tate
I think having patient to nurse ratio would help to keep nurses in the hospital. Too many good nurses quit because demanding patient load and they feel overwhelm and feel that patient are at risk.But the wonderful board at FMHHS would NEVER consider that.It would cost them more money and less money in their pocket!!
Having inside sources allow me to realize that a nursing shortage crisis indeed exists at Floyd and patient care is not as it used to be. Most of their employees, even though they will not openly admit it, feel that administration & the trustees no longer care about them. More nurses are turning to other hospitals (especially in Louisville) for employment opportunities & security and away from FMHHS. As a result, it has become more difficult to fill open slots on a given day thus causing staff to increase their case load by at least 50%. This not only affects the quality of patient care, but staff's ability to function properly. The hospital's only other option is to ask staff to work extra shifts or stay over, in which case creates overtime. According to the Tribune on Wed., 6/28, this is something they are electing to cut out. I was one of the first born at Floyd and have personally seen a sharp decline over recent years. I saw no mention in the article about administration or trustees cutting out their own bonuses in order to save money, nor have I seen an admission by the powers simply stating that they goofed up, that the new section isn't going as quickly as they had planned and too much money was spent at one time. If the elected officials want to hide and not do anything about the current situation and save a great hospital with great staff by finding a great administration, then maybe it's time for the public to start looking towards better leaders and elect new officials.
Floyd Memorial has a variety of nursing staff. They have LPN's, RN's with a 3 year diploma, RN's with associate degrees. Not just nurse's with a 4 year Bachelor's degree. Many of the nurse's at FMHHS know how to "nurse" and "not just chart". A person does not have to commit to 4 years in order to be a nurse. An LPN can graduate in 1 year and an RN with an associate's degree is only 2 years. Both are less than a 3 year diploma program. No, you cannot fairly put blame on the nursing profession. It would only be another way to cover up the bureaucratic garbage going on now in healthcare.
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