Press Release-Lawmakers Agree patients need Standards of Care (Page 85)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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LAWMAKERS AGREE PATIENTS NEED STANDARDS OF CARE

Standards of Care Act passes House Committee

(St Paul) – February 21, 2013- The Standards of Care Act passed the Minnesota Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee, moving the bill that sets staffing levels for hospitals to ensure safe patient care.  The bill was introduced to the Committee by House Author, Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights)

Committee members heard from bedside nurses from Minneapolis, Sleepy Eye, and Duluth about the struggle to provide good care for patients when they’re understaffed.

“It’s an awful, awful feeling,” said Joe Howard, an RN in the Burn Intensive Care Unit at Miller Dwan Medical Center. “You have a patient who is 100 percent dependent on your care and you can’t provide that care because you don’t have enough hands.  It’s the worst feeling in the world.  It’s enough to bring a guy like me to tears.”

When asked why nurses don’t negotiate staffing levels in contracts, Howard told the committee his unit has had a Letter of Understanding in their contract since 2010, but only recently have nurses and administration talked seriously about the details of implementing the agreement after more than two years.  An Essentia Health Services executive admitted they began revisiting the process just three weeks ago.

Other nurses testified that staffing levels have pushed nurses out of their careers, which only worsens the nursing shortage in Minnesota.

“We’ve lost 33 nurses in 3 years at our hospital.  Two retired early, and 31 have outright quit.   We stand to lose six more if things don’t change,” said Naomi Freyholtz, an RN at Sleepy Eye Medical Center.

President Linda Hamilton gave insights to the committee about the frequent near-misses that happen beyond the events that are reported.  “My job is to take the time to reinsert tubes and or re-tape them and assess the skin under them,” said Linda Hamilton, RN at Children’s Hospital Newborn Intensive Care Unit and MNA President, “but when faced with not giving medications, preventing patients from pulling tubes out, or documenting what I have seen and done-it’s these small preventative measures that can go by the wayside.”

House members also compared the similarity of the bill with other employees who have standards for staffing to ensure safety, such as firefighters and daycare providers.

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In: Hospitals, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Patient Safety, Unsafe Staffing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 MNA-NNU-spot-logo-for-Blog

LAWMAKERS AGREE PATIENTS NEED STANDARDS OF CARE

Standards of Care Act passes House Committee

(St Paul) – February 21, 2013- The Standards of Care Act passed the Minnesota Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee, moving the bill that sets staffing levels for hospitals to ensure safe patient care.  The bill was introduced to the Committee by House Author, Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights)

Committee members heard from bedside nurses from Minneapolis, Sleepy Eye, and Duluth about the struggle to provide good care for patients when they’re understaffed.
… Read more about: Press Release-Lawmakers Agree patients need Standards of Care  »

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In: Hospitals, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Patient Safety, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

Minnesota Representative Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) and Senator Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) stick up for nurses and counter the St Paul Pioneer Press editorial against the Standards of Care Act.

Link to article:

http://www.twincities.com/opinion/ci_22631041/taking-exception-safe-nurse-patient-staffing-saves-lives
… Read more about: Lawmakers counter PiPress editorial against Standards of Care  »

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In: Activism, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Organizing, Patient Safety, Unsafe Staffing

NOTES ON NURSING
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, February 20, 2013: Sleepy Eye Nurses Join MNA  »

Sleepy Eye Nurses Vote For Union Representation with Minnesota Nurses Association24 registered and licensed practical nurses at Sleepy Eye Medical Center have the power of 20,000 additional voices at their workplace with today’s decision to join the Minnesota Nurses Association.  Leaders are confident the move will lead to better and safer care for patients of the critical access hospital located in south central Minnesota.  “With a contract behind us, we can better advocate for our patients,” said Naomi Freyholtz, RN.
Nurses were stirred to organize in part because skilled colleagues have been exiting the facility due to frustration with management practices regarding scheduling and staffing. 

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In: Activism, Healthcare, Hospitals, Legislative Policy, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Patient Safety, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

photoMedia all over the state is signaling that MNA has the momentum to achieve a momentous breakthrough for patients in our state. When MNA and legislators Sen. Jeff Hayden and Rep. Joe Atkins announced the introduction of the Standards of Care Act, here’s what WCCO wrote: “the staffing proposal has a strong shot.”
Let’s keep the energy going, nurses. Let’s get Standards of Care in every facility, on every shift, for every patient. The following links should give you goose bumps, and we hope they inspire you to stay active in this campaign.
… Read more about: MNA Launches Standards of Care Campaign  »

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In: Healthcare, Hospitals, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Patient Safety, Unsafe Staffing

 

Transcript:

There will likely be, probably layoffs of other employees, if a mandated government ratio went into effect.

And, what do you say about those, just the very issues they raise about patient safety because of the kinds of decisions they have to make?

Well hospitals obviously share the concern for patient safety. It is a top priority of hospitals to work on patient safety issues. And that is why we’ve been ranked very high on all the national rankings for hospitals. The Agency for Health Care Quality and Research ranked Minnesota hospitals and our health care delivery system here in Minnesota number one in the country.
… Read more about: MHA’s response to the Standards of Care Act  »

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In: Hospitals, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Patient Safety, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

Lawmakers join the Minnesota Nurses Association in advocating for the Standards of Care Act that ensures enough nurses are on duty according to patient needs per unit and per shift and that hospitals will abide by nationally accepted, evidence-based standards.

 

Here’s the link to the media advisory:

http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b76817cab8adb00ed10718346&id=fea5d555da

 
… Read more about: Standards of Care Act introduced this Wednesday at the Capitol  »

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In: Bargaining, Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Hospitals, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Patient Safety, Unsafe Staffing

HEALTH CARE

New Ulm Wellness Project Shows Healthy Results    New figures from the project show that the share of New Ulm residents with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides has gone down — modestly but measurably. Rates of obesity have also stabilized, alongside a small weight decrease across the population.

No One Fix to Slow Hospital Readmission Epidemic    Nearly 1 in 5 Medicare patients is hospitalized again within a month of going home, and many of those return trips could have been avoided. But readmissions can happen at any age, not just with the over-65 crowd who are counted most closely.
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, February 11, 2013: Hope for health in New Ulm; Strike authorized for TC janitors/guards  »

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In: Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses, Nursing, Patient Safety, Politics, Unsafe Staffing

Nurses at the Capitol

MNA nurses flooded the Capitol on Tuesday, bringing the message that patients are at risk in Minnesota hospitals, and we must have a statewide standard of care to ensure patients get the nursing care they deserve.

Nurses from all over the state came to St. Paul on Tuesday to meet with their legislators and call for patient safety legislation, as well as to support Governor Dayton’s budget and increased access to affordable health care for all Minnesotans. Nurses also took part in education sessions and heard from speakers including Governor Mark Dayton and Commissioner of Management and Budget,  Jim Schowalter.
… Read more about: MNA Legislative Update, February 8, 2013  »