Safe Staffing Saves Lives - ANA Safe Nurse Staffing Action and Information
ANA and Its Stance on Specific Nurse-to-Patient Ratios
While ANA respects all attempts to address the staffing issue, we have real concerns about the establishment of fixed nurse-to-patient ratio numbers in federal or state legislation. To read more about ANA's concerns regarding nurse-patient ratios, and the importance of safe staffing, download and read our brochure today. [PDF: 1.89KB]
Safe Staffing Poll Results: As of October 2008
Since the release of the Safe Staffing poll, 13,515 individuals have taken the Safe Staffing Saves Lives' poll. Want to include your voice? Then take our brief poll -- it will take just a few minutes and will help ANA demonstrate the importance of safe staffing to policy makers. Take the poll or see the updated results.
Safe Staffing Saves Lives is a national campaign launched by the ANA to help fight for safe nurse staffing legislation. We need your help to make it a reality. Use the tools and resources on this site to get the facts and become an advocate for safe staffing.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) believes nurse staffing ratios need to be required by legislation - but the number itself must be set at the unit level with RN input, rather than by the terms of the legislation.
Different approaches to assure sufficient nurse staffing have been proposed.
- Nurse staffing plans: with input from practicing nurses, to assure safe nurse staffing levels are based on patient need and other criteria.
- Fixed mandated ratios: a number set by legislation or regulation.
- Combination of nurse staffing plans and legislated nurse to patient ratio: Enhancing these approaches can include a provision for making staffing information available to the public.
ANA's proposal is not a "one size fits all" approach to staffing. Instead, it tailors nurse staffing to the specific needs of each unit, based on factors including patient acuity, the experience of the nursing staff, the skill mix of the staff, available technology, and the support services available to the nurses. Most importantly, this approach treats nurses as professionals and empowers them at last to have a decision-making role in the care they provide.
Recent studies have demonstrated what most health care consumers already know: nursing care and quality patient care are inextricably linked. Massive reductions in nursing budgets, combined with the challenges presented by a growing nursing shortage have resulted in fewer nurses working longer hours and caring for sicker patients. This situation compromises care and contributes to the nursing shortage by creating an environment that drives nurses from the bedside.
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