Emotions are running high on Long Island, as many in the medical community, neighbors and friends have come out to support a registered nurse whose son needs her full time care. A bill in his honor is being debated, CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan reported.
Describing 12-hour shifts with no break for a meal or even a trip to the bathroom, hospital nurses who say they’re overloaded with patients are pushing for a new state law that would limit the number of people they care for at the same time.
The threat of as many as 10,000 New York City nurses going on strike intensified Monday as members of the New York State Nurses Association rallied outside the Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem. The union announced that nurses at Montefiore Health System, Mount Sinai Health System, and New York-Presbyterian would strike starting at 6 a.m. on April 2nd if those hospital systems do not agree to hire enough staff to maintain minimum nurse-to-patient ratios that the union says are needed to ensure patient safety.
Research in California and other states shows that mandatory limits on the number of patients a registered nurse can care for at any one time would help reduce the nursing shortage in Illinois and improve patient care, a new report says. What the Illinois Economic Policy Institute calls “safe patient limits” for nurses — a concept in a bill pending in the Illinois General Assembly that is strongly opposed by hospital officials statewide — would result in less-stressful working conditions for nurses and higher employee retention rates, according to the recently released report from the institute.
A pair of companion bills introduced in the Florida Legislature would allow Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to practice without the supervision of a physician. Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican, introduced the legislation in the Senate (SB 972). Rep. Cary Pigman, a Sebring Republican, sponsored the House version (HD 821).
Cathleen Wheatley will become president of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and Alisa Starbuck will serve as president of Brenner Children's Hospital.