Health Legislation Policy Vendetta Ramgobin
Mercy College
Professor Claudia Mighty
The registered nurse safe staffing act lobbied for by the American Nurses Association (ANA) was introduced on Tuesday 30th of April to the senate and is being supported by junior senator in the Democratic Party from Oregon Jeff Merkley. Before becoming law it must both be passed by the house and the senate and then be signed by the president (govtrack.us). This bill primarily seeks to empower registered nurses to propel staffing decisions in hospitals, protect patients and improve the quality of care received (ANA). According to ANA, the monumental reductions in the nursing budgets coupled with the increasing challenges posed by the shortage …show more content…
- requires each participating hospital to establish a hospital nurse staffing committee which shall implement such plan. This plan would be based on a number of factors such as the number of patients on the unit, severity of the patients’ conditions, experience and skill level of the RN, availability of support staff and technological resources. In addition to all this, the bill also seeks to ensure that RN’s are not forced to work in units where they are not trained or experienced. Establish adjustable minimum numbers of RN’s and take into account the staffing levels and services provided by other healthcare personnel associated with nursing …show more content…
Adding to that, it requires hospitals that participate in Medicare to publicly report nurse staffing plans for each unit. This would place a limit and restriction on the amount of ‘floating’ nurses that are used as well as ensuring that unqualified RN’s are not forced to work in a unit especially if they lack the experience and education in that specialty. The bill also requires the collection, maintenance and submission of data by participating hospitals sufficient to establish a link between staffing systems and patient acuity. This data would include nurse-sensitive patient outcomes, operational outcomes such as work related injury or illness, as well as a vacancy and turnover rates and nursing care hours per patient
Mercy College
Professor Claudia Mighty
The registered nurse safe staffing act lobbied for by the American Nurses Association (ANA) was introduced on Tuesday 30th of April to the senate and is being supported by junior senator in the Democratic Party from Oregon Jeff Merkley. Before becoming law it must both be passed by the house and the senate and then be signed by the president (govtrack.us). This bill primarily seeks to empower registered nurses to propel staffing decisions in hospitals, protect patients and improve the quality of care received (ANA). According to ANA, the monumental reductions in the nursing budgets coupled with the increasing challenges posed by the shortage …show more content…
- requires each participating hospital to establish a hospital nurse staffing committee which shall implement such plan. This plan would be based on a number of factors such as the number of patients on the unit, severity of the patients’ conditions, experience and skill level of the RN, availability of support staff and technological resources. In addition to all this, the bill also seeks to ensure that RN’s are not forced to work in units where they are not trained or experienced. Establish adjustable minimum numbers of RN’s and take into account the staffing levels and services provided by other healthcare personnel associated with nursing …show more content…
Adding to that, it requires hospitals that participate in Medicare to publicly report nurse staffing plans for each unit. This would place a limit and restriction on the amount of ‘floating’ nurses that are used as well as ensuring that unqualified RN’s are not forced to work in a unit especially if they lack the experience and education in that specialty. The bill also requires the collection, maintenance and submission of data by participating hospitals sufficient to establish a link between staffing systems and patient acuity. This data would include nurse-sensitive patient outcomes, operational outcomes such as work related injury or illness, as well as a vacancy and turnover rates and nursing care hours per patient