Safe Nurse Staffing Legislation
The Safe Nurse Staffing Legislation (House Bill 3123) passed the Legislature with
near unanimous votes, and Governor Gregoire has signed the bill into law. Highlights
of the new law include:
Nurse Staffing Committee Composition
- By September 1, 2008, every hospital must establish a nurse staffing committee.
- The hospital can either create a new committee or assign the functions of a nurse
staffing committee to an existing committee.
- At least one-half of the members of the nurse staffing committee must be RNs currently
providing direct patient care.
- Up to one-half of the members of the nurse staffing committee will be hospital management
representatives.
- Staff nurses participation in the committee must be scheduled work time, compensated
at the appropriate rate of pay, and relieved of all other work duties.
Primary Functions of the Committee
- Development and oversight of a nurse staffing plan for each unit and shift of the
hospital based on patient care needs, appropriate skill mix of registered nurses
and other nursing personnel, layout of the unit, and national standards and recommendations
on nurse staffing.
- Semiannual review of the staffing plan against patient need and known evidence-based
staffing information, including the nursing sensitive quality indicators collected
by the hospital.
- Review, assessment, and response to staffing concerns presented to the committee.
Role of Committee
- The Committee shall produce the hospital's annual nurse staffing plan.
- If this staffing plan is not adopted by the hospital, the chief executive officer
must provide a written explanation of the reasons why to the Committee.
Posting
- Hospitals must post the nurse staffing plan and the nurse staffing schedule for
that shift on that unit, as well as the relevant clinical staffing for that shift
in a public area on each unit.
- The staffing plan and current staffing levels must be made available to patients
and visitors upon request.
Non-retaliation
- Hospitals may not retaliate or intimidate an employee for performing any duties
or responsibilities in connection with the nurse staffing committee; or
- Hospitals may not retaliate or intimidate an employee, patient, or other individual
who notifies the nurse staffing committee or the hospital administration of his
or her concerns on nurse staffing.
Memorandum of Agreement – Ruckelshaus Process
Since last fall, WSNA has been engaged in a mediated process with the Washington
State Hospital Association, the Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives and the
other nurse unions on the critical issue of nurse staffing. In addition to the jointly
supported legislation that passed in 2008, the collaboration with the stakeholders
also includes a Memorandum of Agreement that includes the following ongoing work
and discussions on nurse staffing:
- Establishment of a Ruckelshaus Steering Committee composed of two representatives
each of WSHA, NWONE, WSNA, SEIU, and UFCW.
- Dialogue through October of 2008 on minimum nurse staffing standards and public
disclosure of nursing sensitive quality indicators.
- Conduct a survey of all hospitals to compile the nursing sensitive quality indicators
currently collected by hospitals. Based on the results, selected those most meaningful
for hospitals to share with the staffing committee of the hospital and the Ruckleshaus
Steering Committee.
- Develop a process to identify, standardize, and collect at least five nurse sensitive
quality indicators to be collected by all Washington hospitals.
- Pilot project of an immediate staffing alert system designed to address real time
staffing concerns in several Washington hospitals.
- Establishment of an advisory committee to support the work of the staffing committees
in hospitals. The committee would compile nurse staffing guidelines; collect, develop,
and disseminate materials; serve as a resource and collect best practices; and recommend
and provide training for nurse staffing committees.
- Jointly urge the Washington State Department of Health to include nurse staffing
information on the state’s adverse events reporting form in order to examine the
impact of nurse staffing on the adverse event.
Documents
