Seeking to solve their workforce crisis, hundreds of Pennsylvania nurses from eight of the region’s largest nurses’ unions and advocacy groups rallied with patients, families, community advocates, and elected officials Tuesday at the State Capitol.
Nurses met with legislators and testified before the Pennsylvania House Health Committee on the need for safe nurse staffing legislation and to urge passage of the Patient Safety Act (HB 106).
Rebecca Hartman, a registered nurse from Allentown, said nurses are happy to work hard and happy to do hard work but want to be able to do the work safely.
“If you make the job doable, more nurses will do it,” she said in a statement. “That’s why we’re here, asking our elected leaders to please help us and pass the Patient Safety Act here in Pennsylvania.”
The bill was introduced in the PA House last Friday in bipartisan cooperation by state Reps. Tom Mehaffie, R-Dauphin, K.C. Tomlinson, R-Bucks, and Bridget Kosierowski, D-Lackawanna, who is a nurse. A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate by state Sen. Maria Collett, D-Montgomery, who is a nurse as well.
“As a legislator, a mom, and a registered nurse of 29 years, I have many concerns about some current healthcare issues,” Kosierowski said. “This proposed legislation that we have worked so hard on allows our nurses to give patients the care that they deserve in a safer environment for all.”
The House Health Committee held a hearing Tuesday to discuss the bill and took testimony from nurses and stakeholders. Among those testifying was Denelle Weller, a registered nurse from Central Pennsylvania.
“When I discuss the needs of our patients, I want this committee to fully understand what it really looks like when staffing is not appropriate or safe,” Weller said. “Basic needs like bathing, toileting, eating, and even drinking cannot be met, especially when a patient is relying on you to assist with these needs.”
Weller said patients can lay in their own urine and feces and develop deep ulcerations on their bodies if not turned and repositioned in bed. The wounds, she added, can become so large and deep that an adult can fit their first into them.
Supporters feel the legislation will help fix the nurse workforce crisis and save lives, as well as saving hospitals and health systems millions of dollars.
Robert Williams, a registered nurse from Northeast Pennsylvania, said studies have shown that safer staffing levels correlate directly to better quality of care and patient outcomes.
“One University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing study in 2021 estimated that the savings due to fewer readmissions and shorter lengths of hospital stays is about $70 million, more than twice what the safe nurse staffing levels would cost,” said Williams.
Nurses believe chronic unsafe staffing has led to high turnover rates at hospitals and unsafe conditions for patients. A recent survey of current and former hospital workers revealed that 90% of respondents reported that their hospitals do not have sufficient staff to handle the workload.
Myra Taylor, a registered nurse, said the problem facing nurses is not new. Even prior to the pandemic, short staffing was cited as the single biggest driver of nurse burnout and turnovers.
“This is something I have seen building over the course of my career and when the pandemic hit, it exposed the long-growing cracks in our healthcare system,” said Taylor. “But we can fix these cracks. We can solve this crisis. We can save our hospitals money and we can save lives while we’re doing it. We just need to pass the Patient Safety Act.”
Among the nurses and others rallying at the Capitol was a coalition of organizations, including the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare PA, Nurses of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals (PASNAP), the Jersey Nurses Economic Security Organization (JNESO), the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), Council 13 of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), and the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN).