Oncology nurse Theresa Brown, in an op-ed piece in the New York Times Sunday, argued for government-mandated nurse-staffing ratios.
She cited research showing that each extra patient a nurse had above an established nurse-patient ratio made it 7% more likely that one of the patients would die, and that 20,000 people died a year because they were in hospitals with overworked nurses.
“When hospitals have insufficient nursing staffs, patients who would have gotten better can get hurt, or worse,” Brown wrote.
Read more »
The New York State Nurses Association is battling an unlikely foe at the negotiating table.
The nurses union is in labor talks with its own 16-member professional staff, which includes nurse educators, organizers and PR workers. United Steelworkers represents those staffers, who say they are frustrated with a perceived delay in coming to an agreement. Issues include overtime pay and pay scale. A news release urged the NYSNA to “practice what they preach.” The current contract ends in March 2014, and talks started almost a year ago.
Read more »
The American Nurses Association wants the federal government to require insurers selling plans on state insurance exchanges to have at least a certain percentage of advanced practice registered nurses in their provider networks.
The ANA proposed the minimum level would be equal to 10% of the number of APRNs who independently bill Medicare Part B in a state.
Read more »
