Massachusetts voters - yes on issue 1 - overextended nurses put patients in jeopardy to benefit hospital cash

While Realneo is a north east ohio focused web site, nonetheless Google search will find this post - written by my Massachusetts friend who is a registered nurse - for Realneo's Massachusetts voting friends...

 Yup- a lot of controversy & posturing. Everybody is complaining about where the numbers have come from...

Here’s what I know: 

Bedside nurses are voting yes

The ratios seem reasonable- 1:1 for ER, ICU & L&D

1:2-3 for step down, 1:4 for others

The hospitals need to come up w/ plans starting in Jan

If hospitals are not in compliance then they are cited & have to submit a new plan- its not like the hammer drops immediately 

There will be allowances for mass casualty or other emergencies

No RN will get in trouble (breaking the law!) for going to assist another nurse or situation, this applies to assignments!
Closing beds & increasing wait times will only happen if hospitals refuse to hire more nurses- which is what they are threatening so far

Hospitals are actually threatening nurses about losing their jobs if they vote yes

Where will the nurses come from? There are 36 programs in eastern MA, 4000 nurses sat boards for their first time in 2016...hospitals have refused to hire new grads for years & have also refused to hire into full time positions (benefits) for years only posting part time positions

So young nurses end up going else where to get their experience

The president of Partners Healthcare makes more that 4 mil in salary- then there are bennies & bonus’ - & this is a non-profit entity! He bitches about costs!

Hospitals keep trying to balance their budgets using RN costs- they try to cut staff & keep shoving patients at nurses counting on the fact that nurses will kill themselves trying to make everything come out ok & the hospitals actually don’t care because they have a charitable immunity cap of $20K for any malpractice - but there is no cap for nurses"