The Nevada Assembly and Senate have passed legislation that sets maximum nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.
Senate Bill 182, which awaits Gov. Joe Lomardo’s signature, establishes maximum ratios based on the acuity of patients in certain hospitals located in counties with populations of at least 100,000 (currently Clark and Washoe counties) and licensed for more than 70 beds.
Ratios vary by unit. For example, the bill calls for one direct care nurse per patient in each operating room, critical care unit, intensive care unit and postanesthesia unit. It calls for one direct care nurse for every three patients in each cardiac telemetry unit, intermediate care unit, pediatric unit and observational unit.
The legislation requires a hospital’s documented staffing plan to provide for staffing in accordance with these maximum ratios.
National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, celebrated the passage of the bill.
“This is a day that will change nursing in Nevada for the better, forever,” Karen Pels-Jimenez, RN, said in a union news release. “Having legal limits to the amount of patients nurses can be assigned at one time is more than just commonsense regulation — it is the key to making our hospitals safer places to get care and better places to work.”
Nevada Hospital Association President and CEO Patrick Kelly shared the following statement with Becker’s:
“We are deeply disappointed by the passage of SB182, which would impose the strictest mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in the country. Nevada is already experiencing one of the most critical nursing shortages nationwide, and enforcing these rigid ratios will make it nearly impossible to sustain current levels of care and hospital services. We strongly urge Gov. Lombardo to veto SB182 to avoid further straining our already overburdened healthcare system.”
The Senate passed the bill on May 22, followed by the Assembly on June 2.
