Survey Shows High Concern for Patient Safety; Nurses Take Aim on Solution
The statistics are alarming about patient care in hospitals. The Institute of Medicine’s report attributes 98,000 deaths due to errors. The Minnesota Hospital Association’s laudable effort to track adverse events invariably cites high frequencies in falls, pressure ulcers and infections – and the number increases every year.
Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have been committed to investigating the root causes of these events that compromise the care of our patients.
Today, MNA announces the results of a comprehensive survey conducted of our members and of the citizens of Minnesota which helps shed light on a disturbing factor pervading acute care facilities in Minnesota: Chronic understaffing of nurses in the delivery in care is leading to compromises in patient care.
MNA commissioned the internationally trusted firm of Anderson, Niebuhr and Associates to conduct the study from July through September. The poll has a margin of error of +/1 5%.
“Preventable death and adverse events are unacceptable to us as Registered Nurses,” said Linda Slattengren, RN and President of MNA. “We have a moral and professional duty to identify, address and correct the cause of this situation.
1/3 of Minnesota residents say the quality of care they or a loved one received during hospitalization was negatively impacted by too few nurses on duty at the time.
An astounding 90% of all Minnesotans expressed concern that RN understaffing is negatively impacting patient care. Their fears are validated.
When nurses work short staffed, three quarters of all nurses say patient care suffers through delays in following through with orders, assessment and critical watching is not done to best practices, and there is inadequate time for appropriate delegation and supervision of non-RNs.
This most recent evidence by MNA adds to the growing body of work documenting the correlation between Registered Nurse staffing and safe patient care. For example, Nurse Researcher Linda Aiken’s studies put an awful price on when nurses have too high of a case load. In Medical Surgical units where a nurse is caring for 4 patients, and a fifth is added, the chance of death increases by 7%. Six patients means a 14% increase – and so on.
No less an authority than the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations has found inadequate staffing precipitated one-quarter of all unexpected occurrences that led to patient deaths, injuries or permanent loss of function.
It doesn’t have to be this way. A well-documented national nurse shortage may be considered a culprit to availability of qualified personnel, but with 71,000 licensed RNs in the State of Minnesota and nursing schools bulging at the seams, the scarcity is not as dire as it seems.
Day after day, nurses have come to recognize this crisis is one of priority, planning and resource allocation.
Methods used to make nursing assignments and schedules fail to reflect the significant variations in the care needs of patients. Formulas for assigning nursing staff do not adequately account for patient acuity levels or the intensity of individual nurse patient loads. Admissions, discharges and transfers of patients are rarely factored in when scheduling nurses to work specific units.
“We CAN improve patient care by implementing uniform staffing guidelines established in law. Like the Nurse Practice Act MNA fought to achieve in 1905, we need a legal foundation that helps assure the public of quality standards,” said Linda Slattengren, RN and President of MNA.
The commitment of MNA nurses is motivated by the patients in their care. The resolve is inspired by the Code of Ethics for Nurses.
About the Survey
In 2007, MNA commissioned Anderson, Niebuhr & Associates to conduct a study of our members and of the citizens of Minnesota to examine their perspectives on nurse staffing in hospitals. Specifically, MNA sought to learn the following from Members and Minnesota residents:
- Current staffing procedures at Members' facilities
- Members' opinions about what happens to patient care and nurse well-being when there is insufficient Registered Nurse (RN) staffing
Minnesota - How substantial of an issue Members and Minnesota residents perceive insufficient RN staffing to be
