National Nurses United

6 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 J U N E 2 0 1 4 NEWS BRIEFS MASSACHUSETTS M assachusetts Nurses Associa- tion/ National Nurses United members are stepping up efforts to place two questions on the ballot—one to set safe patient limits on nurses patient assignments and the other to require greater hospital finan- cial transparency, limit CEO salaries, and real- locate hospital profits to protect services for all communities in the Commonwealth. On May 21, more than 500 nurses rallied on the Boston Common outside the Massachu- setts Statehouse calling for immediate legisla- tive action on the initiatives while holding signs that read "It's Time to Protect Patients and Our Taxpayer Dollars." Dozens of legisla- tors, nurses, and healthcare advocates spoke at the rally, and following the demonstration, nurses visited every legislative office to secure signatures on their two ballot measures. This day of lobbying was followed on June 4 with the release of a study of bedside regis- tered nurses in Massachusetts by state Rep. Denise Garlick, RN and an MNA/NNU member, and state Sen. Marc Pacheco which showed that hospital administrators are assigning too many patients to registered nurses, resulting in significant harm and even death for patients. According to the survey, nearly eight in 10 registered nurses report that the quality of patient care in Massachusetts hospitals is suffering because hospital admin- istrators are requiring nurses to care for too many patients at once and, by more than a 2-1 margin, RNs report that unsafe patient assign- ments have become worse in recent years, with devastating results for their patients: • Alarmingly, nearly one in four nurses (23 percent) report patient deaths directly attributable to having too many patients to care for at one time • 46 percent report injury and harm to patients due to understaffing • 51 percent report longer hospital stays for patients • 56 percent report readmission of patients due to unsafe patient assignments • 57 percent report medication errors due to unsafe patient assignments • 59 percent report complications for pa - tients due to unsafe patient assignments • 68 percent report RNs don't have the time to educate patients and provide adequate discharge planning. • 82 percent report RNs don't have the time to properly comfort and care for patients and families due to unsafe patient assignments The release of this statewide data on the impact of unsafe patient assignments for nurses on patient mortality follows a recent report by the Department of Public Health that linked inadequate nursing care and unsafe patient assignments for nurses as a contributing factor in the deaths of two infants and one mother at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. "It is unacceptable that erratic staffing decisions lead to medical errors, complica- tions, readmissions, and death," said Garlick, who presented the survey results at a press conference at the Statehouse. "Patients in Boston and the Berkshires, teaching hospi- tals and community hospitals, union and non-union facilities need and deserve quality care. All the work of the Legislature, in this decade, on access and cost containment fails if patients do not receive safe, quality care." During the press conference, which drew significant media coverage, Garlick charac- terized hospital industry staffing practices as a "'MASH' mentality, and I have tried to come up with a more elegant word for it, but a MASH mentality for healthcare in Massa- chusetts is just stupid." Garlick is a cosponsor of H.1008, the Patient Safety Act, which would address this patient safety crisis by establishing safe maximum limits on nurses' patient assign- ments, while providing the flexibility to adjust staffing based on patient needs. A similar ballot question, H.3843, is also pend- ing before the Legislature. The Legislature has until July to act on the measure, or the Massachusetts RNs step up campaign for safe patient limits, release staffing survey

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