Health and Safety

Masked nurse outside White House hold signs "Protect Nurses, Patients, Public Health"

National Nurses United Covid-19 timeline

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, NNU has led the way in advocating for and winning protections for nurses and other health care workers across the country. Learn more by following our full Covid-19 advocacy timeline.

Signs "Workplace Violence Puts Everyone at Risk"

Take NNU's Workplace Violence Survey

We want to hear your story. Your voice has a critical and powerful impact on our collective work. Take the workplace violence survey and share your experiences.

Nurses holding signs "Safe Staffing Saves Lives"

As the Covid public health emergency declaration comes to an end, here’s what nurses want you to know

On May 11 the Covid public health emergency declaration expired. With this emergency era concluding, have hospital executives learned lessons that will help them better protect patients in a future emergency? Ask any nurse, and you will get a resounding, “No.”

Our campaigns

Nurse holds sign "Save Lives: Safe Staffing Now"

RN-to-Patient Staffing Ratios

Registered nurses across the United States understand the need to set a minimum number of nurses to safely care for a given number of patients, with adjustments to increase nurse staffing based on patient acuity.

Nurses outside Capitol building hold signs calling for workplace safety

Workplace Violence Prevention

Violence against nurses and other health care workers in hospitals and other health care facilities is a growing epidemic across the United States. Learn more about NNU's national campaign to prevent workplace violence.

Nurses transfering patient to bed

Patient Handling

Sprains, strains, and tears, make up 52% of all injuries that result in days away from work for RNs. Unsafe patient handling causes the bulk of these injuries, some of which have ended nurses’ careers. The solution? A safe patient handling program that includes appropriate equipment, education, and training.

Infectious Disease

Nurse hold signs "Protect Nurses, Patients, Public Health"

Covid-19

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, NNU has led the way in advocating for and winning protections for nurses and other health care workers across the country. View all our Covid-19 news and resources.

Graphic of mpox in human respiratory system

Mpox

Learn about mpox, its symptoms, how it is transmitted, and what protections nurses and other health care workers need to care for a patient with a confirmed case.

Nurses outside The Whitehouse hold signs "Stop Ebola Now"

Ebola

NNU has won landmark mandatory Ebola guidelines in California and collective bargaining agreements with strong infectious disease protections.

Latest resources

Nurse with headache

What Nurses Need to Know »» Preventing the Long Covid Health Crisis

A large proportion of people who get Covid-19 experience long-term symptoms and health impacts, known as “long Covid.” Hospitals and other health care employers have a duty to ensure a safe environment for staff and patients. Read our flyer to learn about what measures are necessary to prevent spread of Covid-19 within health care facilities and to protect staff and patients from long Covid.

Nurses hold signs "Save Lives: Protect Nurses"

Ten Things That Nurses Need To Know About Long Covid

Following initial Covid-19 infection, a significant proportion of people continue to experience new, recurring, or ongoing symptoms and health problems that persist from several weeks or months to years. It is a multifaceted syndrome that can affect nearly every organ system and can disrupt people’s ability to work or participate in their daily lives. Learn more by reading our flyer.

N95 respirators >> NIOSH approvals and background info

Learn more about health care vs industrial N95s (updated April 2023)

Post-Exposure Isolation Period for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 Variant

This scientific brief outlines the incubation period and what nurses and other health care workers should do when exposed to Covid-19.

Covid Testing and Screening in Health Care Settings

This brief goes over a science-driven approach to protecting nurses and other health care workers, our patients, and public health.

Nurse Advocacy Network

The NNU Nurse Advocacy Network is a community of activists who are ready to mobilize to ensure that nurses and other front line health care workers have the protections and safety standards they need to care for patients.

Research and reports

Button on nurses chest reads "Safe Staffing Saves Lives"

Protecting Our Front Line: Ending the Shortage of Good Nursing Jobs and the Industry-created Unsafe Staffing Crisis

In this report, National Nurses United describes how the hospital industry has driven registered nurses from the profession.

Nurse holding sign "Workplace violence put everyone at risk"

Workplace Violence and Covid-19 in Health Care: How the Hospital Industry Created an Occupational Syndemic

This report details stark evidence of how the dual failures of health care employers to protect nurses and patients from Covid-19 and workplace violence synergistically interact to amplify the harms caused by each individually.

Nurses outside Capitol Building hold vigil for fallen nurses

Deadly Shame: Redressing the Devaluation of Registered Nurse Labor Through Pandemic Equity

This white paper provides context and history for why moral distress and moral injury are happening to the most trusted profession in the United States.

Press releases

Thousands of registered nurse members of National Nurses United will hold a national day of action to demand that their employers address the current nationwide staffing crisis by ensuring there is safe staffing on all units at all times and that nurses have the resources they need to care for their patients.
A permanent standard would require employers to protect nurses and other health care workers from occupational exposure to Covid-19.
The increases in pediatric respiratory syncytial virus infections and related hospitalizations are not due to an “immunity debt” created by masking and stay-at-home orders issued during the Covid-19 pandemic. So-called immunity debt is a flawed conjecture that is not based on science.
The letter was sent to facilities across the nation where more than 180,000 NNU nurses work, asking that they provide information about planning, employee training, screening, patient placement, staffing, infection prevention, and more.