RNs Speak Out in Support of Hospital Safe Staffing Bill

Washington, D.C. – Registered nurses filled the District of Columbia Council chamber today to urge the council’s Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to improve public safety and protect vulnerable hospital patients by enacting the Patient Protection Act. 


“I am here to advocate for my patients because nurses are increasingly put into impossible situations by hospital managers who demand we care for more patients than is safe.  They refuse to ensure that there are enough nurses at the bedside to provide the care our patients need,” said Mindy Blandon, a registered nurse at Medstar Washington Hospital Center.  “It is incumbent on this Council to take the steps necessary to pass this bill into law so that we can improve care in DC hospitals and we can prevent unnecessary pain and suffering.”


The bill would set specific mandatory limits on the number of patients RNs can care for (nurse-to-patient ratios), with additional staffing required based on individual patient acuity.  It was introduced this year by council chairman Phil Mendelson and council members Orange, Silverman, Allen, and Bonds as B21-0132, the “Safe Working Conditions for Healthcare Workers Amendment Act of 2015.”


“I love getting to help our tiniest, most vulnerable babies make it safely out into the world,” said Sandra Falwell, a registered nurse at Children’s National Medical Center and Vice-President of National Nurses United.  “When the hospital is short staffed, I cannot do my job right.  Understaffing is wrong, and it’s dangerous.  And it is happening across the District.”


The bill is modeled after a highly successful California law that since its implementation a decade ago has saved thousands of patient lives, promoted improved overall quality of care, and helped keep the state’s most experienced nurses at the bedside.


 “I am here to tell you that our safe staffing law not only works, but has been a great success on all levels.  The legislation has improved nurse staffing in hospitals across the state and improved care outcomes of millions of patients and the job satisfaction of tens of thousands of nurses,” said Deborah Burger, a registered nurse in California with 43 years of experience and the Co-President of National Nurses United.  “Nurse to patient ratios is good public policy in terms of better patient outcomes, lower workers’ compensation costs, improved job satisfaction, and increased safety that comes with mandating essential nursing staff levels to patient volume, complexity of care and need.”


 “I want more than anything to do everything I can to make this hospital the safest, best place it can possibly be. But I’ve got to tell you that it is hard, almost impossible for a registered nurse to provide the quality care our patients deserve with the dangerous understaffing at our hospital,” said India Ezebuiro, a registered nurse at Providence Hospital. “Understaffing is a problem in hospitals across this city.  While we’ll keep being advocates in our individual hospitals and doing what we can, the only way to fully address the dangers that understaffing presents and ensure patient safety across all hospitals is for the Council to step up and set a uniform standard embedded in statue and enforced by the Department of Health.  The safe Working Conditions for Healthcare Workers Amendment Act, also known as the Patient Protection Act, is the standard our patients need.”