FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 6, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
national nurses week
File photo by Todd Maisel
As National Nurses Week approaches, New York
seeks ‘Safe Staffi ng’ for the state’s caregivers
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@schnepsmedia.com
@robbpoz
Th e names and images of no fewer than
three dozen New York nurses who died
of COVID-19 line a digital memorial that
the New York State Nurses Association
(NYSNA) created to honor their sacrifi ce
on the front lines of the pandemic battle.
In many ways, the memorial serves as
a continued reminder of the pandemic’s
cost as well as the need to ensure that
all nurses in New York receive the proper
protection and staffi ng to safely care for
their patients.
With New York set to observe National
Nurses Week (May 6-12) — an annual
salute recognizing the caregivers who
work tireless to heal and comfort the sick
— the nurses of the Empire State are set
to receive some much-needed support
from Albany.
On May 4, New York lawmakers passed
two bills aimed at creating “Safe Staffi ng”
standards for medical centers in the
Empire State.
Such standards — which include establishing
a minimum patient-to-nurse ratio
— have been items for which nurses have
long advocated, but had been put on the
back burner by Albany lawmakers. Th e
COVID-19 pandemic, however, exposed
the critical situation nurses too oft en face
in acute and long-term care facilities aft er
years of budget cuts and reduced staffi ng.
As Nancy Hagens, NYSNA treasurer
and a registered nurse at Maimonides
Hospital in Brooklyn, described it, the
staff quickly adapted as the pandemic
struck last year.
“Overnight, our med-surg (medical/
surgical) nurses had to become ICU nurses,”
Hagens said Tuesday during a press
conference on the Safe Staffi ng bills. “You
could imagine we were at a defi cit to begin
with. Now, we have the pandemic, and
as nurses, we have to do what we needed
to do in order to care for our patients
and save as many lives as we can. We truly
believe that if we had enough staffi ng, if
we had a nurse-patient ratio, we could
have saved more lives.”
Aja Sciortino, a nurse in the pediatric
ICU unit at Westchester Medical Center,
underscored that point, emphasizing that
studies from the National Institute of
Health and others have demonstrated that
a patient’s health is largely dependent
upon how well the nurses are able to care
for them.
“We had situations where we needed
one-to-one patient to nurse ratios, but
sometimes we were up to two to three
patients to one nurse,” Sciortino said.
“Th ree patients to one nurse puts nurses
in danger, especially if they (the patients)
have a high acuity, and are critically ill.
Th ese types of staffi ng issues aff ect nursing
satisfaction. Th ey endanger nursing
licensure and it leads to nursing burnout.
Even more importantly, it aff ects the safety
of our patients.”
Th e Safe Staffi ng legislation will mandate
that hospitals adopt staffi ng plans
created by committees of frontline registered
nurses and other health care staff at
each facility. Th ese plans will “clearly indicate
patient assignments for nurses and
other direct care staff by unit and shift ,”
according to the NYSNA.
Hospitals across the Empire State will
be required to abide by the staffi ng plans,
with the state Health Department (DOH)
taking the lead on enforcing them, the
NYSNA noted. Members of the public will
also be able to view the staffi ng plans for
each hospital on the DOH website.
Th e legislation also includes a mandate
that the DOH create new minimal staff -
ing standards for intensive care and critical
care units statewide by Jan. 1, 2022.
Bronx state Senator Gustavo Rivera and
Orange County Assemblywoman Aileen
Gunther sponsored the Safe Staffi ng bills
due to pass both chambers of the state legislature
Tuesday, and be sent to the desk of
Governor Andrew Cuomo for his signature.
Rivera called the bills’ imminent passage
“a historic moment,” noting that he
has participate in so many meetings about
the Safe Staffi ng bills very frequently in
the 11 years he’s served in the state Senate.
He gave credit to state Senate Majority
Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins for working
to move the legislation forward to an
anticipated approval.
“Everybody came together and knew
this was something that needed to be
addressed,” he said. “We’re fi guring out
a mechanism that will have a positive
impact on their patients.”
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