P R E S S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release: Contact:
Office:
800-882-2056, x 717
Cell: 781-249-0430
dschildmeier@mnarn.org
One
in Three Registered Nurses Report Patient Deaths that are Directly
Attributable to RN Understaffing
93 percent of RNs agree that burnout from high patient loads is causing nurses to leave the hospital setting; Two-thirds of RNs who have already left the bedside say they would consider returning
if RN-to-patient ratios were established
·
Alarmingly, nearly one in three nurses (29 percent)
report patient deaths directly attributable to having too many patients to care
for;
·
67 percent report
an increase in medication errors due to understaffing;
·
64 percent report
an increase in complications due to understaffing;
·
54 percent report
readmission of patients due to understaffing;
·
52 percent report
injury and harm to patients do to understaffing;
·
1 in 2 nurses
report that poor staffing leads to longer stays for patients, which cost more;
and
·
Only 4 percent of
registered nurses report that patient care in their hospitals is excellent.
“These shocking conditions exist right here in Massachusetts, a state
that is known around the world as a medical mecca,” said
The survey, the first in nine years to examine
Massachusetts nurses’ views on the quality of patient care and nurse staffing
in area hospitals, follows three national studies that paint an equally dismal
picture of the quality and safety of patient care, spelling out in detail the
conditions in Massachusetts that endanger patients and that have caused and
continue to exacerbate the current nursing shortage.
It was commissioned by the
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research firm,, the
survey results can be assumed to be representative of the 92,000 nurses to
within ± 4 percent at a 95 percent
confidence interval.
The release of the survey coincided with the Joint Committee on Health
Care’s public hearing on H.1282, a bill that would establish RN-to-patient
ratios in
“The
“These findings should be a wake-up call to hospital administrators, a warning to patients who seek care in our hospitals,
and a call to action for legislators, who have in their hands today the means
to protect the public from the serious risks posed by current hospital
conditions,” Higgins concluded.
In addition to the dangers of
inadequate RN staffing, the study found that other vital aspects of patient
care are also suffering. Nine out of 10 nurses report not having enough time to
comfort and assist patients and their families, 86 percent report not having
enough time to educate patients, and 81 percent of nurses report that, because
they have too many patients to care for, their patients have to wait for
medications or treatments.
“A medication delay can
result not only in unnecessary pain and suffering, it can lead to a downturn in
a patient’s condition that causes complications or lengthens that patient’s
stay,” noted
The survey found that 66 percent of RNs believe that hospital finances are not properly spent on patient care; 55 percent believe that the overall quality of health care in Massachusetts has gotten worse over the last five years; and 61 percent believe that in the next five years the overall quality of health care in the state will become even more desperate.
The survey not only underscores the danger posed by
chronic understaffing in hospitals, but also provides solid and compelling
evidence that poor staffing conditions created and continue to exacerbate the
shortage of nurses in the state.
While national surveys of nurses show that one in five
nurses plan to leave the profession in the next five years, fully 55 percent of
nurses providing hospital care in Massachusetts have considered leaving direct
patient care at the bedside because of the poor staffing conditions.
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According to nurses who have already left the hospital
bedside, the number one reason given was that
they had too many patients to care for. However, 65
percent of those who have left the hospital bedside say they would be likely or
extremely likely to return if Safe Staffing legislation was enacted.
Of the 600 nurses polled:
·
An astounding 93
percent report being burned out by excessive patient loads;
·
65 percent agree
that working conditions in hospitals are “brutal” for nurses;
·
75 percent report
that their managers schedule too few nurses for their shifts;
·
70 percent of
nurses report being “floated” to assignments in other areas of the hospital for
which they lack the proper orientation or training;
·
60 percent report
that hospital administrators assign mandatory overtime instead of staffing
properly;
·
58 percent report
that hospital managers assign nursing duties to non-nurses instead of hiring
registered nurses; and
·
An overwhelming
86 percent support legislation to regulate RN-to-patient ratios in hospitals
H. 1282, An Act Ensuring Quality
Patient Care and Safe RN Staffing, would establish minimum RN-to-patient ratios
in
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