WSNA position on staffing

On June 17, 2026, the Board of Directors approved WSNA’s position on staffing plan adherence and break coverage compliance. 

WSNA supports full implementation and enforcement of Washington’s hospital staffing laws and adherence to approved staffing plan requirements for the entirety of each shift. 

Key points in this position include: 

• Uninterrupted meal and rest breaks are legally required and must be accounted for in staffing plan implementation. 
• WSNA opposes the use of the “break buddy” or similar systems for meal and rest break relief that result in fewer nurses providing direct patient care than is required by the approved hospital staffing plan 
• Compliance with the approved unit/department staffing plan must be maintained through the entire shift. This is consistent with guidance issued by the Washington State Department of Health (WA DOH) and includes during meal and rest periods. 
• Hospital staffing committees must have a standard process to respond to staffing complaints. Hospital staffing committees (HSC) are mandated by statute to review and determine the disposition of staffing complaints. Complaints that remain unresolved by the HSC for greater than 60 days (without an HSC majority vote extension) may be filed as a complaint with the WA DOH. 
• HSC co-chair must validate the hospital’s compliance with the hospital staffing plan. HSC co-chairs are required to assess the validity of the hospital’s semiannual compliance data twice each year before it is submitted to the WA DOH. This requires enough detail to accurately mark the report as either valid/accurate or unvalidated/contested (requiring investigation by the WA DOH). 

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