It is no surprise that healthcare has become big business with extraordinarily high profits. So why will our legislators not step in? One reason, lobbyist have their ear. Money in = laws favorable to their "cause." The most CURRENT research shows that for each 1 patient increase in patients per nurse is associated with a 5-8% increase in mortality. Hospitals will argue that they cannot afford it. The most current research debunks this myth. While in the short term hospitals may encounter costs, over a period of time... The savings are staggering. Safe staffing will decrease the amount of readmissions, decrease infections and bedsores, not to mention it is the ethical thing to do. The hospital systems love to quote "nursing shortage" which is also untrue. Nurses leave the bedside yes, but hospitals fail to tell you WHY they leave. The number one reason is because the job has become unsafe and if a nurse speaks up and advocates for their patient they are often retaliated against and sometimes fired. Nurses speak up because they care, they care about you! Many nurses are simply afraid to lose their job. If you are going on vacation and about to fly, would you accept only 1 pilot? If you are a parent would you allow the daycare to have 1 staff member for an unlimited amount of children? If you are an animal lover would you not want a law stating how many dogs/cats a boarding facility can accept? What if your house is on fire, would it be ok that the firetruck pulls up with only a driver? These are common sense issues, so why are elected officials not using common sense? Because if they are admitted to a hospital, they receive "SPECIAL" treatment. Just ask any nurse, what does VIP treatment in the hospital mean? Our taxes, insurance monies, and some self pay are what pays the hospitals, we should get quality care. Hospitals are even suing the government because they don't want to disclose their profits. This petition is to ask legislators to ensure nurses can provide care safely.
