Nurses protesting the change at the 451-bed Boston hospital said assigning one RN to five patients on medical/surgical floors is dangerous.
Tufts did not provide its new nurse-staffing ratio but said a study by the Advisory Board found its nurses had been caring for 3.7 medical/surgical patients each, compared with the national average of 4.5 for teaching hospitals.
However, the study also showed the hospital had a lower-than-average ratio of support staff, such as technicians. Tufts said it is assigning 35 technicians to free up nurses from unskilled jobs so they could focus on patient care.
Read the Boston Globe’s report on nurse staffing ratios.
