After a long, hard-fought struggle, members and healthcare workers succeeded in getting landmark hospital and nursing home staffing legislation passed into state law.
NYSNA members celebrate safe staffing law.
Safe Staffing Law a Key Milestone in 2021 With the COVID-19 pandemic and fear over new variants of the virus, the past two years have been brutal for everyone, especially healthcare workers. Healthcare workers were thrust into a battle for which few people understood. For many nurses and frontline health staff, this period has been among the most challenging of their personal and professional lives. The light at the end of the tunnel, however, came with passage of a new safe staffing law in the summer of 2021. After a long, hard-fought struggle, members and healthcare workers succeeded in getting landmark hospital and nursing home staffing legislation passed into state law. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law on June 18, meaning effective Jan. 2022, there is a process in place for setting and enforcing staffing standards at every hospital in the state — regardless of whether the facility is public or private, not-forprofit or for-profit, union or non-union. Implementation of the staffing law for nursing homes has been delayed, unfortunately.
The new law establishes clinical staffing committees of at least 50% frontline nurses and direct care staff who will set annual staffing standards for each unit of a facility. Employers must meet with workers on equal footing and establish a staffing plan. The measure enforces facilities yearly staffing plan through the Department of Health. Healthcare facility operators who fail to create or abide by staffing standards will face civil penalties. Additionally, the measure requires the Department of Health to create new minimum staffing standards for ICUs and critical care units.
Saving Lives This is critical as hospitals that staff 1:8 nurse-to-patient ratios experience five additional deaths per 1,000 patients than a 1:4 nurse-to-patient ratio according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002. Moreover, the odds of patient death increases by 7% for each additional patient the nurse must take on at one time the Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002 reports. Passage of the safe staffing law was a huge win for nurses, healthcare workers,
patients, and nursing home residents throughout the state. Now, it is imperative that we continue to organize to ensure that this implementation of this hallmark legislation is not delayed. Administrators will claim that with understaffing, they cannot be required to adhere to a new law. But this law was passed for a reason and hospitals and health systems must comply. As we gear up to defend what we have won, we are clear that we would not have made it this far without members’ persistent and strong advocacy. NYSNA nurses made their voices heard at the bedside, in the streets, and in the halls of Albany. NYSNA nurses also partnered with fellow healthcare professionals from 1199SEIU and CWA District 1 to demand safe staffing for the entire care team. This solidarity helped secure this victory. As the union moves into the next phase of work, it is essential that nurses sign up to be a Safe Staffing Captain. Interested parties can register on NYSNA’s website, with their organizer or visiting this link: https://www.nysna. org/dashboard#.YbZ8dbpOk2w. 2021: We are one
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