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Running head: ADVCACY METHODS MEMO1

Advocacy Methods Memo: The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015
Samantha J. Hasenzahl
Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

ADVOCACY METHODS MEMO

To: Congressman Dave Brat


From: Samantha Hasenzahl
Date: October 24, 2015
Subject: Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015
Nursing shortages are evident across the country. This may not seem like a major issue, but when
one looks at the research they will quickly learn that understaffing is strongly correlated to
poorer patient outcomes. The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 (H.R. 2083) requires
that hospitals that receive Medicare funding will create a committee that generates staffing plans
that are specific to each unit. Most importantly, 55% of the committee members are made up of
direct care nurses. Who knows the staffing needs required to provide quality care than the staff
that actually provides it?
Patients and their families expect to receive high quality care when they are in the hospital. They
do not deserve to be treated like a task and a number. However, when a nurse is responsible for
seven patients they may not be able to provide the care they want to give and that the patient
needs. That ratio requires nurses to prioritize which patients are more important and who requires
more. Even though the nurse wants to provide equal care for every patient that is not always
possible due to the fact that some patients require more attention than others and unfortunately
this takes away from the other patients who are also important and deserve quality care.
Although nurse managers and administrators want their staff to provide the best possible care,
they may not fully understand the day to day needs of staff. The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing
Act allows the nurses who are directly providing care to have a say in staffing.

Patients exposed to understaffed shifts are at increased risks for surgical wound
infections, urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers, pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis,
upper gastrointestinal bleeds, sepsis, and physiological metabolic derangement (Twigg,
Geler, & Myers, 2015).
When there are nurse shortages there is an increased in missed nursing care. Adequate
staffing is required to improve patient outcomes (Cho, Kim, Yeon, You, & Lee, 2015).
It has been estimated that increasing the number of registered nurses could save close to
$3 billion in cost related to adverse patient events (Needleman, Buerhaus, Pankratz,
Leibson, Stevens, & Harris, 2011).

Recommendation: Voting in favor of this bill will help nurses advocate for better patient and
self-care. Ensuring appropriate nurse to patient ratios will not only improve the quality of care
patients receive, but will also save money as patients will have shorter hospital stays and
decrease the risk for secondary/hospital acquired problems. Direct care nurses know what they
need in order to provide excellent care and this bill gives them the power/voice to secure
appropriate staffing needs.
Patients that are subjected to understaffing are at an increased risk for missed nursing care and
negative health outcomes. Would you want to go to the hospital only to become sicker because
there was not enough staff there to take care of you?

ADVOCACY METHODS MEMO

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References

Cho, S.H., Kim, Y.S., Yeon, K.N., You, S.J., & Lee, I.D. (2015). Effects of increasing nurse
staffing on missed nursing care. International Nursing Review, 62(2), 267-274. doi:
10.1111/inr.12173
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., Pankratz, V.S., Leibson, C.L., Stevens, M.S., & Harris, M. (2011).
Nurse staffing and inpatient hospital mortality. The New England Journal of Medicine,
364(11), 1037-1045. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1001025
Twigg, D.E., Gelder, L., & Myers, H. (2015). The impact of understaffed shifts on nursesensitive outcomes. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71(7), 1564-1572. doi:
10.1111/jan.12616

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