Nurse Staffing Policy Paper

The implications of the policy issue at hand for the nursing profession include the following: the nursing community will be required to collaboratively change policy at the local, state, and national levels by addressing mutual goals and priorities for effectively addressing safe nurse staffing and increasing patient safety. This may be in the likes of lobbying, unions, and professional organizations. The enactment of this policy implies that nursing may desire government intervention but that in itself may be a barrier. This could explain why the legislative bill remains non-specific in that states are required to come up with their own resolutions.

Nurse Roles

As of May 4th, 2017, two national safe patient ratio bills which fall under the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017 have been introduced. These bills are a reintroduction of …show more content…
S.1063 has been introduced primarily in order to establish mandatory direct care registered minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in hospital units. It also requires a study of staffing requirements for direct care licensed practice nurses, and provides protection for individuals exposing illegal activity (that is, not being compliant with directives) (“Schakowsky and Brown Reintroduce the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act,” 2017). H.R.2392 has been introduced to establish mandatory implementation of nurse staffing plans that must meet minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratios (“Schakowsky and Brown Reintroduce the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act,” 2017). These plans would be created with a team composed primarily of direct care nurses. According to National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of