Nurse to Patient Ratio

Many of us at one point have been patients in a hospital. The first experience as a patient is through the emergency room. The main complain patients experience from emergency room visits are long wait times and limited time with nurses and doctors. The state of Massachusetts is pushing to pass a new law in order to improve patient care. This law was implemented in California in 2005. The new law is called, hospital nurse to patient ratio.

The concept of this law is to control the number of patients a nurse can have per assignment. The law is intended to reduce the high burn out rate among nurses, and increase patient care quality. In regards to hospital departments that busiest department that would face the biggest struggle is the emergency room. The emergency room is open to the public. Unlike the other floors that control the incoming volume of patients, the emergency room is unable to deny admittance. Will this law help reduce wait times in the emergency rooms across the states?

There are positive and negative aspects to the nurse patient ratio law. A positive part of the law is protecting the nurses from heavy patient loads, and decreasing burn outs. Having fewer patients on nurse assignments allow for better patient care, less medical errors, and fewer patient falls. As a hospital employee, our biggest issue with patient care is the heavy load of patients on daily assignments. Bigger hospitals tend to bring patients with multiple health issues. In order to provide the best all around care, the nurse to patient ratio law should be passed.

The negative side of the law is the total cost of hiring more nurses. This may seem as a positive thing; however it is difficult to hire so many nurses, if the hospital is not very profitable. How will hospitals afford to hire more nurses? How can we fix the current nursing shortage, if hospitals demand more nurses? The studies done in California have not demonstrated a significant difference, in regards to an increase of patient care. It is a short time frame and in order to implement this law, studies have to demonstrate huge patient care satisfaction. Health care is about doing what is best for the patient. Let’s hope this law will demonstrate a positive change in our hospital fields, after all everyone deserves good health care.