Safe staffing levels for nurses saves lives
Have you or your loved ones ever sat for what felt like an eternity after pushing the call button for your nurse? You aren’t alone. Nurse staffing shortages are a real-life issue plaguing our country now and even projected to be worse in the future. According to the Florida Hospital Association, the state of Florida will be short approximately 59,000 nurses by 2035. Bedside nurses are feeling the beginning of this gap already today, being pushed above what is considered safe nurse to patient ratios. These unsafe ratios are sadly starting to become the new normal, which is accelerating nurse burnout and causing many well-qualified and experienced nurses to leave the bedside. There needs to be legislation put in place that mandates what the safe ratios for nurses should be here in Florida, as evidenced by what some states are putting into place across the country.
Currently, only four states have safe staffing ratios for nursing, and Florida isn’t even on the list for pending legislation. There is a bill, S 1567, that has been introduced in the U.S. Senate, which aims to establish safe nurse to patient ratios. This bill has been put in place as part of the Public Health Service Act, but it remains in the Senate to this day, and nothing has been put into action. Another bill, HR 3165, was introduced into the House around the same time, which looks to address safe staffing ratios for nurses as well. While there has not been action on these bills, safe staffing for nurses in our country is finally gaining momentum as well as a platform.
When a hospital is short-staffed with nurses, the nurses who are there are forced to pick up the patients regardless of how many they will have as a result. For example, a nurse who may have had five patients for the shift, may now have six or seven. While this additional one or two may not seem like much to the average person, this is now an additional one or two lives they are responsible for. Now, the care they may have wanted to give to their patients is stretched, and the nurse is now simply trying to survive and keep everyone happy and alive for 12 hours. Nurses who are pushed above their normal ratios are now at higher risk for making a medication error, having a patient fall, or even a patient developing a pressure sore from the nurse being unable to turn them without additional help. All three of these possibilities could potentially be deadly to a patient and are completely out of the nurse’s control.
These unsafe scenarios are not only unsafe for the patients, but for the nurses as well. Moral injury, insomnia, depression and/or anxiety are on the rise for nurses everywhere, which again inevitably leads to more and more nurses leaving the bedside. Since the pandemic, more people have become aware of all the nurses do for patients and how many responsibilities fall upon them each shift. This ultimately has gained nursing a greater respect and made people aware of just how devastating the massive nursing shortage could be. After all, don’t you and your loved ones go into the hospital with the intent of being cared for and discharged home safely?
People go into the nursing field to help others, and safety is one of the highest priority issues for nurses. California passed law AB 394 in 1999, which put safe staffing ratios into effect. Currently in Florida, there is bill SB 376: The Delivery of Patient Protection, which was attempted in the past and did not make it into law. This bill has been introduced under different numbers but tends to die each time it is introduced in the House. Florida nurses as well as residents need to demand more from their government. The calls for safe staffing are being heard, and some headway is being made, but it isn’t enough. Patients are sicker than ever these days, and the nursing shortage continues to grow. By calling local representatives and lobbying for safe staffing ratios, Florida can hopefully in the future make the staffing ratios safer for nurses and patients alike.