[Antiracism] [Workers' Rights/Health Care Action] Patient Safety Act Approved by Public Health Committee

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients 
 Press Release

 

For Immediate Release
Contact: Alex Zaroulis

February 28, 2008
(617) 549-0358

 
HYPERLINK
"mailto:azaroulis at fifieldstrategies.com"azaroulis at fifieldstrategies.com

 

 

Patient Safety Act is Approved by Public Health Committee

 

Measure Calls for Safe Limits on Nurses’ Patient Assignments, Prohibits
Mandatory Overtime and Includes Initiatives to Increase Nursing Faculty &
Nursing Scholarships

 

BOSTON, Mass. – The 125-member Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients
applauds the vote today by the joint Committee on Public Health Committee to
approve a bill to guarantee safe RN staffing in all Massachusetts hospitals.
The measure, The Patient Safety Act, calls upon the Massachusetts Department
of Public Health to set safe limits on nurses’ patient assignments, and also
prohibits mandatory overtime and includes initiatives to increase nursing
faculty and nurse recruitment.

 

The bill responds to increased concern over quality care in Massachusetts
hospitals as well as evidence linking disease and deaths to poor patient
oversight caused by nurses being forced to care for too many patients at one
time. In recent years medical errors and hospital acquired infections have
soared, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now reporting that 2,000
people, or six people per day, are dying in Massachusetts because of them
every year. A number of studies link the rise in hospital-acquired
infections and other medical complications to understaffing of nurses. A
report published in the July issue of the journal Medical Care which found
that safe RN staffing levels could reduce hospital acquired infections by 68
percent.  

 

In May 2006, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed similar
legislation by a margin of 133 to 20 but the bill was not taken up by the
Senate. The Patient Safety Act: House Bill 2059 is co-sponsored by State
Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) and State Representative Christine Canavan
(D-Brockton).  “At last, we have movement on H. 2059!,” said Rep. Canavan.
“I am so pleased that the Joint Committee on Public Health recognizes the
merits of this bill as written, and that it has released the compromise
bill. Now we must all join together to successfully move H. 2059 through the
House and Senate processes. Let’s make this the year we finally reach the
Governor’s desk!”

 

“We commend the Public Health Committee for their favorable vote on this
bill and we look forward to a successful vote in the full House,” said John
McCormack, the co-chair of The Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients.
“Every day we wait for this bill to be passed, a distressing number of
patients in our hospitals are suffering, and many are dying due to a lack of
appropriate nursing care.”

 

Key components of the bill include the following:

 

·         The bill directs the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to
develop and implement staffing standards and enforceable limits on the
number of hospital patients assigned to a registered nurse at any one time.

·         The staffing standards would be developed within 12 months of the
bill’s passage and be based on scientific research on nurse staffing levels,
patient outcomes, expert testimony, and standards of practice for each
specialty area.

·         The bill calls for the safe staffing limits to be implemented in
all teaching hospitals by 2009, with implementation in all community
hospitals by 2011.                                                     

·         The bill allows DPH to grant waivers for hospitals in financial
distress.

·         The bill provides flexibility in staffing and accounts for
patients who require more care. Once established, the staffing levels will
be adjusted up or down based on patients needs using a standardized,
DPH-approved system for measuring patient needs.

·         The Act will reduce errors caused by fatigue and overwork by
prohibiting hospitals from forcing nurses into mandatory overtime.  It will
also prevent hospital administrators from moving nurses into unfamiliar
assignments without proper orientation.

·         The Act prevents the reduction of support services, including
services provided by licensed practical nurses, aides and technicians.

·         The bill establishes a number of nurse recruitment
initiatives—sought by the hospital industry and supported by the
Coalition—to increase the supply of nurses, by providing nursing
scholarships and mentorship programs, as well as support for increases in
nursing faculty to educate new nurses.  It also would create refresher
programs to assist nurses in returning to practice at the hospital bedside.
A survey of Massachusetts nurses found that more than 65 percent of those
not practicing in hospitals would be likely to return if a law providing
safe limits was passed.   In California, where similar limits have been in
place for three years, 80,000 nurses have returned to the bedside.

·         The bill establishes strong consumer protections for safe RN
staffing, including a prominent posting of the daily RN staffing standards
on each unit.


 

To date, 125 of the state’s leading health care and patient advocacy groups
have endorsed HB 2059 and have joined forces to push for its passage in both
the House and Senate. Recent voter surveys indicate that more than 80
percent of the public supports establishing safe staffing limits.

 

The Patient Safety will now move to the Joint Committee on Health Care
Finance.

 

 

###

 
David Schildmeier
Director of Public Communications
Massachusetts Nurses Association
340 Turnpike St. 
Canton, MA 02021
800-882-2056 x717
781-830-5717
781-821-4445 (fax)
781-249-0430 (cell phone)
dschildmeier at mnarn.org

Web Site: HYPERLINK
"file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/david/Application%20Data/Microsoft/Si
gnatures/www.massnurses.org"www.massnurses.org




 
 
Diane Scherrer, RN 

Western MA Community Organizer, Division of Legislation

Massachusetts Nurses Association 

CELL: 781-363-3817


"Without good and careful nursing many must suffer greatly, and probably
perish, that might have been restored to health and comfort, and become
useful to themselves, their families, and the public, for many years after."
~Benjamin Franklin (1751)

 


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