Safety
in
Numbers
In our special focus
on ratios, get the latest on
everything NNU has done,
is doing, and will do to win
this critical safe staffing
standard for the nation.
From the history of
California���s law to what the
most current studies say
to how hospitals are trying
to undermine ratios, here���s
everything you need to
know about ratios.
10
N AT I O N A L N U R S E
Ratios.
The first time you heard that word you
were probably in grade school, learning fractions. Or maybe you were baking a cake
and needed to figure out the correct proportion of flour to sugar.
Now, as a registered nurse who is part of National Nurses United���s movement of
direct-care nurses, ratios have come to mean a safe staffing standard that has the
potential to transform our working conditions for the better and ensure our
patients are getting the care and attention that they deserve���and that we were
educated to give.
In this issue���s special focus on ratios, we approach the topic from many angles.
Since California is currently the only state to have RN-to-patient ratios across
acute-care hospital units, we examine the law there, from its origins, to efforts to
defend and enforce it, to its effects on the RN workforce, to current attacks
against it. We also look at efforts to pass ratios in individual states and at the
national level, as well as internationally. And don���t miss part two of the continuing education home study that delves into the nitty gritty of the rationale behind
ratios regulations.
We hope you will be informed and inspired to take action to help win ratios
where you live and work. Your license and your patients depend on it.
W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G
NOVEMBER 2012
