Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1531149
RNs in Motion » 21 CNA President Deborah Burger, RN commentary in San Francisco Chronicle: "By using an executive order, one not based on facts, to rescind patient protections, the governor has set a dangerous precedent. If the decision is not reversed, the governor can vacate any health and safety regulations corporations do not like through emergency decrees without legislative or public support. If this governor will not stand up to the hospital corporations, be assured that nurses will." CNA files lawsuit against Schwarzenegger to throw out emergency regulation, charging the governor exceeded his authority to overturn a legislative mandate to protect patient safety and violated the requirements for an emergency order. 2005 January — More than 1,500 RNs pack DHS hearing in Sacramento on plan to make emergency regulation a permanent rule change. CNA also delivers 11,000 letters from RNs to the DHS opposing the new rules. March — Superior Court judge issues ruling finding Schwarzenegger broke the law with his emergency regulation and failed to present any evidence of the pretexts he used for the emergency regulation. CNA reports that the state has provided over $200 million to hospitals to implement ratios, despite constant complaints by hospitals that the ratios are an "unfunded mandate." Judge issues injunction against second emergency regulation filed by the Schwarzenegger administration following her initial ruling. November — Gov. Schwarzenegger drops fight against ratios after stunning special election loss two days earlier. All told, tens of thousands of nurses joined together and led 107 protests in 371 days throughout California and several other states. 2008 Ratios continue to improve, changing to 1:3 in step-down, and 1:4 in telemetry and specialty units. 2010 A landmark study by Linda Aiken, RN, Ph.D., concludes that states studied would have fewer patient deaths if they matched California's ratios in post-surgical units; that fewer RNs miss changes in patient conditions because of workload; and that California RNs are far less likely to suffer moral distress and leave the profession. 2015 A 2015 study associated the California RN staffing ratio law with a 31.6 percent reduction in occupational injuries and illnesses among RNs working in the state's hospitals. 2020 Hospital industry exploits Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext for rolling back safe staffing standards. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration bows to pressure and grants hospitals "expedited waivers" to violate the state's nurse-to-patient ratios in key areas of the hospital. Nurses immediately push back against the waivers, knowing they will require already overburdened RNs to care for more patients at a time, and will be used as a first step to permanently overturn the safe-staffing law. Nurses organize dozens of protests at hospitals throughout the state, and in response, a number of hospitals withdraw their applications for a waiver, or decide not to implement the waiver they already received. 2021 Nurses declare victory when the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announces it will no longer approve "expedited waivers" allowing hospitals to violate the state's ratio laws during the Covid pandemic, and existing waivers will expire.