Advocacy Methods

Sophie Guillot
Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

To: Congressman Randy Forbes

From: Sophie Guillot
Date: October 25, 2015
Subject: Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015
I am currently at student at Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing. Upon graduation I will be a
bachelors prepared Registered Nurse. As a student and a consumer, a major concern within the hospital
systems is patient outcomes. All parties involved want positive patient outcomes, the patient, the health
care team, the hospital system, and the insurer. As nurses continue their education to better serve their
patients, the one thing holding them back is their patient load. Nurses cannot provide the same quality
care when they are overwhelmed with an inappropriate number of patients to care for.
Staffing continues to be a problem in most hospital systems, and this directly affects patient safety.
Hospital systems focus on preventing poor outcomes as a result of falls, hospital acquired infections, and
providing adequate patient teaching. The one thing that remains a problem in implementing this is
staffing. The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 outlines a plan to require hospitals participating
in Medicare to develop and implement a staffing plan. The bill lists some potential benefits to this simple
requirement such as increased patient safety, reduced nurse burnout, and cost savings.

The Minnesota Department of Health conducted a study in which they found strong evidence
that fewer nursing staff was associated with poor outcomes including length of patient stay,
medication errors, and missed care (Roach, R., 2015).
The Journal of Clinical Nursing highlights in an article many aspects of nursing care are
neglected as the workload increases. Hence, frequencies of neglected or uncompleted nursing
tasks are strongly related to staffing levels and workload (Hinno, S., Partanen, P., & VehvilainenJulkunen, K., 2011).
The Singapore Nursing Journal points out a study that determined hospitals with lower levels of
nursing staff encountered a 7% increase in 30-day mortality and 7% increase in failure-to-rescue
(Chin, H. L., 2013).

Recommendations: Supporting the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 is a crucial first step in
giving nurses the staffing support required for them to effectively do their job. Hospital systems must be
held accountable for their lack of staffing which compromises patient safety. In addition to passing this
bill it is necessary to continue researching the effect of nurse staffing on patient outcomes. Nurse-patient
ratios vary depending on the hospital unit and patient acuity. More evidence is required to provide
suggestions and guidelines on staffing.
Nurses want the best for their patients, they do not want to provide subpar care or make preventable
errors; however, with high patient loads they cannot give they live saving attention necessary. Passing the
Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 will provide nurses in the United States the backing they need
to provide safe, quality care to their patients.

References
Chin, H. L., (2013). The Impact of nurse staffing on quality of patient care in acute care settings: An
integrative review paper. Singapore Nursing Journal, 40 (4).
Hinno, S., Partanen, P., & Vehvilainen-Julkunen, K., (2011). Nursing activities, nurse staffing and adverse
patient outcomes as perceived by hospital nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21, 1584-1593.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03956.x
Roach, R., (2015). MN study links nurse staffing to patient outcomes. The Minnesota Nursing Accent,84
(1).