rn=realnews@ana.org
www.nursingworld.org/rnrealnews

I'm Ann Converso, vice-chair of United American Nurses (UAN), the union arm of the ANA. UAN is America's largest union for registered nurses; representing more than 100,000 nurses. On behalf of the UAN and nurses everywhere I want to thank ANA for doing this survey. Patients and their families may well be alarmed by the results, and they should be.

We have a very real public health care crisis in this country. Patients are at risk in today's hospitals. They're not receiving the care they need because there aren't enough nurses on staff or on duty to provide safe, quality care. That is unacceptable.

Many health care facilities focus on cost over quality of care. They cut corners and cut staff nurses, relying on routine use of mandatory overtime and floating to fill gaps in staffing. Patients often pay a heavy price when RN staffing is inadequate, such as longer recovery times, increased complications and higher mortality rates. Inexcusably, it takes a tragedy, such as in the Shirley Keck case you'll hear about shortly, to bring the crisis in health care staffing to the forefront.

To hear hospital administrators tell it, the problem is a shortage of nurses. That's how some justify dangerous staffing practices and unsafe working conditions. In reality, administrators have created the problem because they've cut staff, made working conditions so stressful that nurses leave hospitals for other jobs, and deny staff nurses the respect, pay and benefits we deserve.

RNs are committed to making patient care safe. All across the country we have reasoned, worked, bargained, demonstrated, even gone on strike for safe staffing. We've made a little progress, but not enough, because the crisis is getting worse. That is unacceptable to me, to any registered nurse anywhere -- organized and unorganized -- and to our union, the United American Nurses. We are here today in support of ANA's nationwide state legislative agenda regarding staffing. This is a key component of UAN's nationwide Safe Staffing Campaign. We have launched the campaign to fight against unsafe staffing practices, to make sure that workplaces are safe for nurses and to demand that our patients receive the care they need and deserve. We are waging that campaign through collective bargaining, through legislative initiatives and through public information.

We are demanding that health care facilities provide safe staffing. We are demanding that hospitals disclose information about staffing levels, staff mix and patient outcomes. We are demanding an end to mandatory overtime that puts both patients and nurses at risk of error and injury. And we are lobbying for state and federal legislation to back up those demands.

We also seek legislation to protect nurses who stand up against conditions that jeopardize patients and staff -- nurses who honor their professional responsibility as patient advocates. UAN is asking nurses across the nation to sign on to our Safe Staffing petition, to garner support for legislation to assure quality patient care.

We are committed to making hospitals safe again. Today, patients and nurses are at risk. That's not just "unacceptable" -- it's an outrage.

# # #

The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

2001 press releases

Other past press releases: 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996

Search	Contact ANA	Join/Renew Membership	Members Only	Online CE
NursingInsiderSpecial Offersnursesbooks.org © 2008 The American Nurses Association, Inc. All Rights Reserved Copyright Policy | Privacy Statement