The ballot issue, dubbed the Patient Safety Act, would set a “safe maximum limit on the number of patients assigned to a nurse at one time” and require hospitals to “adjust nurses’ patient assignments based on the specific needs of the patient,” according to the MNA news release.
In addition to the ballot initiative, which opens the issue directly to the public, MNA/NNU has also filed a companion bill in the legislature.
Hospitals generally prefer to have flexibility in nurse scheduling and oppose mandated staffing levels, according to a Telegram & Gazette report. “A fixed ratio doesn’t make sense because every patient’s needs change and the caregiving team has to be flexible to meet those changes,” Lynn Nicholas, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, said, according to the Telegram & Gazette report.
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