Arizona Patient Protection Act Introduced

HB 2041 Sets Safe Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios, Ability for Nurses to
Advocate for Urgent Patient Safety Measures

PHOENIX, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Arizona registered nurse
leaders today announced the historic introduction of major legislation to make
Arizona hospitals safer for patients and strengthen the ability of RNs to
expose unsafe conditions and advocate for patient protections.
HB 2041, the Arizona Patient Protection Act, is sponsored by House member
Tom Prezelski at the request of the National Nurses Organizing
Committee/California Nurses Association.
Introduction of the bill was greeted by nurses across the state who have
voiced increasing alarm about the erosion of care conditions in Arizona
hospitals that they say put patients at risk and fan the nursing shortage as
many RNs will no longer work in unsafe hospitals.
Among its major provisions, the Act:

-- Mandates minimum, specific RN-to-patient staffing ratios which are
widely seen by nurses and health care experts to be the most effective
standard for safer nursing care and for promoting the retention and
recruitment of RNs.
-- Whistleblower protection for RNs who report unsafe hospital conditions
or for refusing unsafe patient care assignments.
-- Legal recognition of the right of RNs to act as advocates for their
patients rather than for the economic interests of their hospital
employer.

"Hospitals have a responsibility to staff properly in order for nurses to
provide quality care for patients. Hospitals aren't doing that," said Diane
Baker, an RN at Flagstaff Medical Center. "The Arizona Patient Protection Act
requires staffing levels, at all times, based on the acuity of the patient.
This will save lives and allow us to provide the care that our fellow
Arizonians deserve."
"A legal mandate is the safest way to establish staffing ratios and real
whistleblower protection for nurses," said Phoenix metro RN Lindy Abts. "I
know many nurses have left hospitals because of the staffing ratios; those
same nurses have said they would return if ratios were safe for patients and
for themselves."
"I have been a nurse since 1993 and have worked in different hospitals in
Arizona. I know that when I worked in a Skilled Nursing unit inside of a
hospital, I was assigned up to 25 patients on the night shift," said Kirk
Herbert, RN at Yavapai Regional Medical Center.
"On many occasions I had a patient developed a life threatening
complication. While I cared for this patient, the other 24 patients would end
up with delayed care. With better staffing ratios, patients would receive
better care and the life that is saved might be yours," Herbert said.
"The nursing care hospitalized patients need is increasingly complex. In
Arizona, mandated nurse-to-patient ratios would improve the nurses' ability to
safely care for patients according to their individual needs," said Tucson
Medical Center, RN Jane Black.
The APPA's ratios are modeled after the successful 1999 law in California
that was strengthened again on January 1. Ratios differ by hospital area,
such as a minimum of no less than one RN for every five patients in general
medical or post-surgical care units, 1:4 in pediatrics, and 1:4 in emergency
rooms. The ratios are a floor, not a ceiling, with hospitals also required to
increase registered nurse staffing as needed based on individual patient
illness or acuity.
"California's ratios are a spectacular success story," said Zenei
Cortez, RN, member of the NNOC/CNA Council of Presidents. "Under our ratio
law, lives are being saved, our ability to be effective advocates for our
patients is stronger, and more RNs are entering the work force and staying at
the bedside longer mitigating the nursing shortage."
Since the law was signed, 80,000 more licensed RNs have come into
California's workforce.
In addition to Arizona, NNOC/CNA members are promoting similar bills in
Illinois, Maine, Ohio, and Texas, and working with the Massachusetts Nurses
Association on a proposed ratio law in their state. "RNs across the nation
have seen the future, and the enormous benefits of this law. They know it
works for patients, nurses, and communities," said Cortez.
About NNOC/CNA
The National Nurses Organizing Committee, founded by the California Nurses
Association, is a national movement for registered nurses with some 80,000
members from California to Maine.
SOURCE The National Nurses Organizing Committee

David Glenn, +1-602-722-0060; or Charles Idelson, +1-510-273-2246, both for
The National Nurses Organizing Committee