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CA hospitals having difficulty meeting new nurse staffing ratio

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, March 31, 2005

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Officials at California hospitals say they are failing to meet a new court order mandating one nurse for every five patients 24 hours a day, reports the Associated Press.

Some hospitals are having staff nurses work additional hours or hiring nurses from registry services to meet the order.

Few hospitals will admit to using other options, such as reducing the number of patients in medical and surgical wards by closing beds or keeping people in the emergency room longer.

"Closure of beds and increased diversions and increased wait times are becoming common again," said Jan Emerson, spokesperson for the California Hospital Association. Even if hospitals found the money to pay for the extra costs, they still wouldn't be able to find enough nurses, she said.

The California Nurses Association has argued that the ratio will make hospitals safer, but hospitals say it's nearly impossible to meet the law throughout the day when new patients fill wards or when a nurse is on break, for example.

Deborah Burger, president of the California Nurses Association, finds the argument invalid. "We're not going to ding a hospital because a nurse answers a phone or goes to the bathroom. And the hospitals know that," she said.

The state law doesn't specify any fines or punishments for violating the new ratio. The California Department of Health Services can shut down a facility that presents an "immediate and serious threat to patient safety," but that is rare, said spokesman Ken August.

To read the complete Associated Press article, click here.

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