FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2001
CONTACT:
Hope Hall, 202-651-7027
Cindy Price, 202-651-7038
rn=realnews@ana.org
www.nursingworld.org/rnrealnews
ANA Applauds Agreement on Nursing Home Staffing Crisis
Washington, DC -- Nursing homes across the country are in the midst of a staffing crisis that jeopardizes the care provided to thousands of our nation's most vulnerable citizens. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has been working to increase awareness about the tragic results of nurse staffing shortages in nursing facilities and the need for minimum nurse-to- patient staffing ratios.
In a continuation of this effort, ANA is proud to join consumer advocates, long-term care providers, allied health professionals, and labor unions in supporting a statement that identifies many factors contributing to the dangerous staffing shortages in nursing facilities. This historic consensus statement, coordinated through the Campaign for Quality Care, points to the need to address problems such as unreasonable workloads, workplace safety, wages and benefits and staff empowerment in nursing facilities.
"The problem of inadequate nurse staffing in nursing homes presents a danger not only to nurses but to all health care consumers," said ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN. "With the changing needs of nursing home residents, including increased acuity and increased need for rehabilitative and therapeutic care demands, it's imperative that nurse staffing levels are sufficient to maintain safe, quality care."
A General Accounting Office report released in 1999 stated that more than one-quarter of nursing homes have deficiencies that have caused actual harm to residents or placed them at risk of death or serious injury. In July 2000, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) issued a report proving that adequate nurse staffing is directly related to positive health outcomes. In addition, HCFA reported that two thirds of all nursing facilities across the nation staffed below the preferred minimum level for registered nurses. The HCFA report further substantiated a June 2000 ANA study, Nurse Staffing Patient Outcomes in the Inpatient Hospital Setting, which showed that patients fare better when there are more registered nurses in the staffing mix.
"The ANA is committed to addressing the causes of this nurse staffing shortage," said Foley. "Through the Campaign for Quality Care coalition, we hope to increase awareness of this national problem and work collaboratively with Congress to finding solutions to this staffing crisis."
To obtain a copy of the Campaign for Quality Care consensus statement, call 202-508-9478 or visit http://www.nccnhr.org/.
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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's nearly 2.7 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.
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