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Legislators, Nurse Unions Push for National Workforce Regulations
Several of the nation's largest nursing unions, including the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), the AFL-CIO-affiliated United American Nurses (UAN), and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, are advocating for a single-payer health system and national workplace regulations, Modern Healthcare reports. The groups recently hosted an event called the National R.N. Day of Action featuring Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who is expected to introduce legislation addressing union priorities, including funding for nurse education, whistle-blower protections, mentoring of new nurses and minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. The event followed the introduction earlier this month of a bill to amend the Public Health Services Act to require national nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. Sponsored by a bipartisan group of legislators and supported by the UAN, the bill would require that, within two years of enactment, hospitals implement plans that adhere to minimum direct care nurse-to-patient ratios, and adjust nurse staffing levels based on patient acuity and other factors. Citing a 2002 New England Journal of Medicine article finding that, when there is a lack of R.N.s, patient bedside care suffers, the UAN president says that mandating national inpatient nurse-to-patient staffing ratios would alleviate stress, reduce burnout in hospital nurses and make hospital nursing "an attractive option again." The bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees for further consideration. Meanwhile, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has reintroduced the Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2009, which would require the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration to develop and implement the use of mechanical devices to eliminate manual lifting of patients by direct care R.N.s and other health workers (Blesch, Modern Healthcare, 5/13/09 [subscription required]; AHA News Now, 5/7/09; CNA/NNOC release, 5/13/09; UAN release, 5/7/09; UAN release, 5/13/09).