September 26, 2016

 

Senator Marco Rubio

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510

 

RE: S.1132 – Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015

 

Senator Rubio,

         I hope this letter finds you well. I understand you are busy as your term is ending and your are running for re-election, so thank you for taking your time to read this. Senator Rubio, I am a nurse, a profession, which like yours, is very demanding both physically and emotionally. Like you, I make decisions on a day-to-day basis that affect the outcomes of others. I am writing to you about a situation I hope you can take part in improving, both for my fellow nurses, your state and our country. The issue I am writing to you about is the nurse-understaffing surge that is sweeping the nation. Recently the S.1132 – Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015, was introduced to the congressional committee and is awaiting further evaluation to move it forward in congress (GovTrack, n.d.).

         The reason I reach out to you is because together we can make a difference for nurses, patients and our healthcare system. High patient to nurse ratios have been directly linked to higher incidents of medication errors, patient falls, infections and even deaths (American Nurses Association, 2016). I know recently I have felt the repercussions of not having an active staffing law in place. It is not uncommon for me to have, eight patients, comprised of postpartum women, newborns less than 72 hours, and fresh surgeries. It can be overwhelming to be needed by such a diverse group of patients at one time and even more overwhelming to be expected to be multiple places at once, i.e. assisting with procedures, passing pain meds, assessing the newborns, going to the nursery to speak with the pediatrician, etcetera. With such a high patient load it is easy to become distracted from one’s routine and for tasks to be forgotten. Compromised patient care can create poor patient satisfaction, declined morale, and low nursing retention rates.

         The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act proposes that participating facilities have a committee, primarily composed of registered nurses, who implement manageable nurse to patient staffing ratios for their facility, taking into account different areas of care, acuity of patients, and experience of the nurses, as well as acknowledging proposed safe staffing levels proposed by revered nursing establishments (American Nurses Association, 2016). While this Act has the ability to improve patient care and nursing morale, it also has the prospect of tackling the nation’s debt as sufficient nurse staffing can cut health care costs by nearly 3 billion annually, not to mention avoiding nearly 4 million extended hospital stays due to adverse events (American Nurses Association, 2016).

         Some states have took it upon themselves to not wait for congressional action, and have implemented their own standards for addressing the issue. Serratt’s (2013) review of the mandated minimal ratios (MMRs) implemented in California nearly 15 years ago, reports that by increasing nurse staffing working conditions improved and there was a notable decrease in nurse turnover rates throughout the state. After reviewing numerous studies, carried out in various clinical settings throughout the U.S., Hinno et al., (2011), conceded that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that “ a higher proportion of RN’s is associated with shorter hospital stays and lower failure-to-rescue rates” (p. 1585).

         Although seven states have already enacted staffing regulations, there are still thousands of nurses across the remaining 43 states, including Florida, who are subjected to unsafe patient to nurse ratios and need staffing intervention (American Nurses Association, 2016). I am sure that you would agree with me Senator that if you or a loved one were ever hospitalized you would be focused on the quality of the care received, and may feel not sufficiently cared for if your nurse was unable to make it to your room frequently due to the high quantity of patients assigned to him or her.

         As you can see this an issue that can potentially affect anyone subjected to hospitalization or nursing care and I would appreciate your influence in making sure that this issue is given your support and efforts to move forward in congress, starting with your vote to support the Act. Again, thank you for your time, and good luck in your re-election endeavors.

 

Sincerely,

Jasmin Smith, RN

106 NE 28^th Ave

Ocala, FL 34470

 

Enclosure (1)

References

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

American Nurses Association. (2016). Safe Staffing - American Nurses Association. Retrieved from http://www.rnaction.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nstat_take_action_safe_staffing_about

GovTrack. (n.d.). Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 (S. 1132) - GovTrack.us. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s1132

Hinno, S., Partanen, P., & Vehviläinen-Julkunen, K. (2011). Nursing activities, nurse

           staffing and adverse patient outcomes as perceived by hospital nurses. Journal of

           Clinical Nursing, 21(11-12), 1584-1593. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03956.x

Serratt, T. (2013) California’s nurse-to-patient ratios, Part 1: 8 years later, what do we

             know about nurse-level outcome?. Journal of Nursing Administration, 43(9),

             475-480. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e3182a23d6f