Even though it has been stalled for 17 years, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is still lobbying for the Patient Safety Act, a state bill that would limit the number of nurses' patient assignments, according to Boston.com.
Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, president of the MNA and an obstetrical and neonatal nurse at Cambridge (Mass.) Hospital, told Boston.com that the Patient Safety Act should be passed because it would limit the number of patients charged to a nurse's care to four or fewer in medical and surgical units.
"Studies have shown that patients need adequate staffing to recover properly...patients come in all varieties with all different needs. We need to have the right number of nurses available to give patients the best outcome possible," said Ms. Kelly-Williams.
Floating is another staffing-related issue cited by the MNA. Mary Sue Howlett, RN, the associate director of nursing at MNA, told Boston.com, "Nurses need to be able to care for patients, and that means having them be oriented to that population...if they're floating between units and haven't been oriented to that patient population, the patients don't get the care that they deserve. You wouldn't want a medical doctor doing surgery on you, so why would you want a medical nurse caring for you post-operatively?"
Patricia Noga, PhD, RN, the vice president of clinical affairs for the Massachusetts Hospital Association, disagrees with the MNA officials. "The artificial one-size-fits-all staffing mandate proposed by the MNA union will do nothing to improve the supply of nursing in the Commonwealth," she told Boston.com.
According to Boston.com, the MNA-backed bill was placed in a legislative study committee. It will not advance.