ANA Backs JCAHO 'Speak Up' Patient-Directed Safety Initiative, Renews Push for Nurse Reinvestment Act, Other Nursing Shortage Preventives

Washington, DC -- The American Nurses Association (ANA) commends the leaders of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for introducing "Speak Up: Help Prevent Errors in Your Care," an innovative program that involves patients in preventing deadly medical errors.

"We support JCAHO for its groundbreaking efforts to ‘help patients help themselves' in securing their safety in medical care, and in attempting to reduce the up to 98,000 needless deaths that are caused each year by medical errors," said ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN. "Encouraging patients to become active, involved and informed participants on the health care team – by speaking out when they have questions or concerns – will go a long way in achieving better patient outcomes," she added.

Foley also advised that in addition to questioning their doctor about his or her background and specialized training, and quizzing him or her about the necessity of more tests or medications versus alternative therapies, patients should also be asking about the quality of their nursing care.

"Such questioning is particularly important with regard to inadequate staffing and nursing shortages," Foley stated. "With the dangers that short staffing poses to patients, no patient should enter a medical facility without knowing whether there will be enough qualified staff on hand to provide adequate care. Every patient has a right to know whether he or she will be assigned an RN, how many RNs are on duty and whether any RNs are working overtime."

Among the questions patients should be asking about the quality of their nursing care:

• Will I be assessed and monitored throughout my stay or procedure by an RN?
• How many patients are assigned to each RN on my care unit, during the day, at night and on weekends?
• What other health care personnel will be working with my RN, what are their qualifications and what tasks will they perform?
• Does the facility rely on temporary nurses during staffing shortages?
• Does the facility require nurses to work mandatory overtime, and, if so, for how long beyond the regularly scheduled shift?
• Is my nurse regularly assigned and fully oriented to this unit/speciality area?
• Will an RN brief me on follow-up care?

If patients are not satisfied with the responses they get – or if they believe they have received poor care or unsafe staffing – they should contact their state health agency or JCAHO.

"In addition to encouraging patients to ‘speak up,' it is also our hope that Congress will ‘speak out' on behalf of patients and nurses by passing much-needed legislation in this area," Foley added. "It is time for Congress to pass the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which would offer grants and other funding for educating students and promoting the profession; the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act, which would impose restrictions on mandatory overtime; and the Patient Safety Act, which would require health care institutions to disclose information on staffing levels, staff mix and patient outcomes. It is only through these and similar government initiatives that we will achieve true safety and quality-of-care for patients and a safe and professional work environment for nurses."

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its constituent member nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights 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.

2002 press releases

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