Health care unions continue to rally for legislation to address understaffing they say strains hospitals and threatens both patient safety and staff well-being.
Lawmakers are considering the Hospital Worker Staff and Safety bill, which would establish mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and increase support for underfunded hospitals. The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 21 and House Bill 3512, aims to establish minimum staffing ratios in hospitals and fund critical safety-net hospitals across the state. Advocates with health care worker unions have been holding a series of rallies at the Capitol in support of the legislation in recent weeks.
Legislation to allow nurses with advanced training to practice independently has overcome objections that led the measure to be vetoed twice in the last four years, the Assembly’s health committee heard Tuesday.
AB 257 would create a new health care professional category of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). APRNs would include certified nurse-midwives, certified registered nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners.
Under the bill, an APRN would be permitted to practice on their own after working under the supervision of a medical doctor.
Nurses at Backus Hospital held an informational picket on Thursday morning to raise concerns about a growing patient care crisis.
The demonstration, organized by a union representing approximately 450 nurses at the Norwich-based hospital, came amid ongoing contract negotiations with hospital management.
A health systems company that operates throughout the Chicago area is eliminating a pay differential for nurses that was instituted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the change occurring during National Nurses Week.
The change was confirmed Friday by Endeavor Health, which operates several hospitals throughout Chicago's suburbs, including Edward Hospital in Naperville and Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
Data that employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs have shared with NPR shows that 11,273 agency employees nationwide have applied for deferred resignation, which the Trump administration is offering as part of its DOGE initiative to cut the VA's workforce by 15%.
The top positions across all networks that are requesting deferred resignation are nurses (about 1,300), medical support assistants (about 800) and social workers (about 300).
A nurse at Deaconess Illinois Medical Center in Marion is being recognized as an extra special healthcare worker.
Victoria Sellers, has been honored with The DAISY Award® for Extraordinary Nurses, a prestigious international recognition celebrating nurses who deliver exceptional clinical care and heartfelt compassion.