Washington Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on January 22, 2008

The vote was 93 in favor, 1 opposed and 4 not voting

(House Roll Call 0 at House Journal 0)

Click here to view bill details.

I have been an RN for 30 years. I have watched the accuity of patients increase as we are asked to care for more and sicker pts. per nurse. This is unsafe, unsafe, unsafe!!! We have talked to our administrators, we have talked to our union reps, we have gotten nowhere. We have put it in writing and gotten nowhere. Many good nurses leave the profession, because of the frustration they feel. We then have fewer nurses, I have seen this happen over and over again as nurses graduate and leave when the reality sinks in. Nursing is an impossible job, we work hard, frequently take no breaks, we still can't complete our jobs within the time period of our shift. Administrators who have never taken care of a pt. give us more and more responsibility. All we want to do is take good, safe care of our patients. It costs little to keep nurses happy. Just give us the staff we need to do a good job. Keep nurse patient ratio low, and give us a voice in doing so, that by itself will help to retain many of the nurses who get frustrated and leave now. I can only hope the passage of this bill will help us do just that.

It is with great concern that care of patients and numbers of staff have come to a fork in the road where there is an attempt to draw a direct relationship. One cannot argue that there are times when more means better. However, I must say there are also a number of times when more means less care as staff become lazy and fail to keep their eye on the tasks at hand. I can certainly understand how the Unions would love to see care tied directly to the need for additional staff. It should be obvious to everyone that this only insures more dollars in the pockets of the Union and does not in fact promise better care for the patient. I have done many studies regarding productivity for both healthcare and the hospitality industry. In healthcare there arises questions on staffing as it is a 24/7 business. 1. How many nurses does it take to care for one, seven, twenty, fifty patients on a medical unit. Issue: What is the acutity of the patients and who makes that determination? What are the abilities of the nursing staff and who makes that determination? Do we staff for the "what ifs"? 2. Why is the CEO appointing the board and being the final decision maker when they have in most casses never taken a nursing assignment? 3. What is the operational challenges of the physical plant of the facility? Issue: One facility has 4:1 staffing on a Surgical unit and another has 6:1 do to the availability of equipment, support staff, physicians, etc. The nurse in the one facility talks to the nurse in the other and demands the facility with the higher staffing to increase their ratio. Calls the state and files a grievance and then the state is put into a position of deciding nursing staffing levels at the facility level. If they find an issue with the staffing level that the CEO has signed off to what and who will be penalized? The CNO who has no choice but to follow the direction of their CEO or quit their job or the CEO who is not licensed? These are just a couple of thoughts that should have gone into this before the WSHA so willingly jumped into bed with the Nursing Unions and their agenda's. More people do not necessarily make for better outcomes ie road crews, government employee's, and yes even nurses, waitresses, etc. In closing the last thing I will say is that I question the constitutionality of the Bill itself and will indeed find it necessary to challenge it should it become mandated.