Well, what can I tell ya?
Um...., did a presentation in class today. It went OK.
Oh! (duh) Nurses had a rally and march through downtown Sac today. It was great seeing them out there. I knew about it, but I had class or I would definately have joined in. Had I been smart and asked ahead of time I probably could have got some extra credit (much needed) for going. Schwarzenegger is trying to roll back the patient to nurse ratios here in Cali. Here are a couple of reasons why we need patient ratios:
1. These are not your grandma's or even your mom's patients. The acuity of patients in hospitals is always getting greater. We are keeping people alive that would have died 20-30 years ago and their cases are complex even on regular medsurg floors. There have been ratios for years in the ICU's recognizing this, usually 1:1 or 1:2, and the ratio law was aimed at medsurg units.
2. California has a severe nursing shortage. We rank 48th in the nation in our total nurse to patient ratio. Many believe the situation as noted above is directly related to this. A lot of hospital nurses have gone to public health, research, or even right out of the proffesion because their licenses are constantly in jepardy in the hospital. The ratio law was also an incentive to move nurses back into the proffesion and back into the hospitals.
3. Finally, the safe ratio law is intended to to help the consumer. Do you want to send your dad to be taken care of by an over taxed nurse? If you don't, and you're a Californian then don't let Schwarzeneggar roll back the law. Support your nurses and the safe staffing ratios.
Um...., did a presentation in class today. It went OK.
Oh! (duh) Nurses had a rally and march through downtown Sac today. It was great seeing them out there. I knew about it, but I had class or I would definately have joined in. Had I been smart and asked ahead of time I probably could have got some extra credit (much needed) for going. Schwarzenegger is trying to roll back the patient to nurse ratios here in Cali. Here are a couple of reasons why we need patient ratios:
1. These are not your grandma's or even your mom's patients. The acuity of patients in hospitals is always getting greater. We are keeping people alive that would have died 20-30 years ago and their cases are complex even on regular medsurg floors. There have been ratios for years in the ICU's recognizing this, usually 1:1 or 1:2, and the ratio law was aimed at medsurg units.
2. California has a severe nursing shortage. We rank 48th in the nation in our total nurse to patient ratio. Many believe the situation as noted above is directly related to this. A lot of hospital nurses have gone to public health, research, or even right out of the proffesion because their licenses are constantly in jepardy in the hospital. The ratio law was also an incentive to move nurses back into the proffesion and back into the hospitals.
3. Finally, the safe ratio law is intended to to help the consumer. Do you want to send your dad to be taken care of by an over taxed nurse? If you don't, and you're a Californian then don't let Schwarzeneggar roll back the law. Support your nurses and the safe staffing ratios.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
sexybeast:
I read about the rally the day after. If we had known, and we were able to, we would have gone. I'm such a big fan of nurses and all and I hear about all the stuff that nurses have to deal with. I definetly think that this needs to be done.
karalynn:
Voltaire has the coolest ink
