IOM Report is Call to Action to Improve Nurse Staffing Levels, Communication; UAN: Study Reinforces Nurses' Recommendations 11/4/2003
From: Suzanne Martin of the United American Nurses, 202-651-7133; web: http://www.UANNurse.org WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 -- A new study, Keeping Patients Safe, released today by the Institute of Medicine reinforces many of the concerns and solutions registered nurses have voiced for years regarding the critical role nurse staffing and working conditions play in improving patient care. "RNs delivering bedside care know from personal experience that our working conditions have a direct impact on the quality of patient care," said Cheryl L. Johnson, RN. Johnson is president of the United American Nurses, AFL-CIO, the nation's largest RN union, representing 100,000 RNs nationwide. "We strongly urge hospitals to take the IOM's recommendations to heart, and work with nurses to establish safe staffing levels and integrate nurses' input into decision-making about working conditions and patient care." Johnson specifically highlighted the report's emphasis on safe staffing: "We know from our own polling and research at UAN that staff nurses place a top priority on having a safe, minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratio in delivering quality care. The IOM's recommendation that 'hospitals and nursing homes should employ nurse staffing practices that identify needed nurse staffing each patient care unit per shift' is a step in the right direction." Johnson added that a federally mandated nurse-to- patient ratio will serve to set a nationwide, minimum staffing standard to ensure patients receive adequate care. Nurses are ready and willing to provide valuable input into staffing and other aspects of their working conditions as they affect patient care, according to Johnson. The IOM study points to improved teamwork and communication between nurses, doctors and other health care professionals as key components in providing quality care, reducing medical errors and creating a "culture of safety." "Other high-risk industries such as aviation have developed highly effective training and communications models to reduce errors among safety professionals," said UAN National Executive Director Susan Bianchi-Sand, a former flight attendant and national union president. "The result was fewer errors and fatalities. Health care organizations can take a chapter out of this book." "Unlike health care, aviation is accountable for its safety record through strong reporting regulations that are designed to protect the public. This 'culture of safety' can be traced to the independent, governmental regulation of their operation systems," added Bianchi-Sand. "The government must play a non- biased role in putting limits on excessive workdays for RNs through a federal forced overtime ban and ensuring all nurses can speak freely about work and care conditions in their facilities through federal whistleblower legislation." --- The United American Nurses, AFL-CIO, the collective bargaining affiliate of the American Nurses Association, is the nation's largest RN union, representing 100,000 nurses in state nurses associations or collective bargaining programs from 24 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. |