The American Nurses Association has been continuing to build its “Safe Staffing Saves Lives” campaign to lobby lawmakersfor safer staffing laws, and, in particular, the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act (S. 73/H.R. 4138). Under this proposed legislation, hospitals would have accountability for creating and maintaining nurse staffing plans at the unit-level. These plans would be design with consultation from practicing RNs. The ANA recently released a survey that indicated 73% of nurses don’t think staffing levels in there unit are sufficient.

Other tidbits of info that came out of the survey:

• 60% of respondents know someone who left direct care nursing because of safe staffing concerns.
• 36% of participants in the survey rarely or never take a full meal break.

Source: nursingworld.org