Why did 2000 Nurses march to Albany?
On April 13th 2016 nearly 2000 Nurses marched to Albany from New York State to register their protest to lawmakers to pass a minimum staffing law that would dictate how many nurses are on duty. The mandate is considered necessary and needed for better work environment.
The proposal has asked to set out different staffing ratios for specific units within a hospital or nursing home. For example, Operating rooms and trauma emergency units would have one nurse for each patient where as Emergency rooms and newborn units would have one nurse for three patients. Rehab units would have one nurse for every five patients.
The proposal has been under consideration for many years but recently picked up increased support, giving nurses hope that it will be passed before lawmakers adjourn for the year in June
Hospital executives argued that each facility needs to set its own staffing levels. They complained that a same ‘same size for all’ approach is unnecessary and expensive. Hospitals and nursing homes estimate that this new dictate would add about $3 billion a year statewide.
The bill would appears to have wide support, with 91 sponsors in the Assembly and 27 in the Senate. But it has enjoyed a lot of backing from among rank-and-file lawmakers in previous years.
It is interesting to note that, California implemented a nurse staffing rule more than a decade ago.
