Nurses gather on Capitol Hill for lobby day

As National Nurses Week came to a close on May 12, members of AFT Nurses and Health Professionals convened in Washington, D.C., to lobby their members of Congress on improving the quality and safety of healthcare.

AFT NHP members shared their personal stories with lawmakers about the need for adequate nurse staffing and comprehensive safe patient-handling programs in healthcare facilities.

Decades of research has linked nurse staffing levels to patient outcomes. Many of the findings show the tipping point in patient care assignments that result in increased readmissions, higher mortality rates and poorer outcomes; yet such findings often are ignored and hospitals choose to cut nursing staff. In April, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) joined Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) to introduce the National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act to address nurse staffing.

There is no cookie-cutter fix. But if nurse staffing were driven by patient acuity, it not only would improve the quality of care but also increase safety, says Jessie Frymyer, a registered nurse and member of the Ohio Nurses Association. "Staffing equals safety. A bill to address staffing would give us the structure we need to achieve that," she adds. "It's frustrating to lose good nurses because of staffing. If we can address short staffing, it will be a cost-saving measure in the long run."

John Brady, a registered nurse and member of the Backus Nurses Federation in Connecticut agrees. "We are losing experienced nurses to burnout. Bills to improve staffing may have to be the wave of the future. But it's not just about passing a bill. We have to be willing to do the groundwork to implement the legislation as intended."

During their meeting with Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Kindra Scanlon and Teri Mills, both members of the Oregon Nurses Association (shows above), discussed the need for national legislation to address safe patient handling. "As nurses, we love to care for our patients. And sometimes we do more than we should in terms of lifting. I know this from my own experience suffering injuries as a nurse's aide and then as a nurse," says Scanlon. "I want to continue to be there for my patients. That's why we need a safety net like national legislation to protect us from injury."

Meanwhile, the Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act, which is expected to be reintroduced to Congress in May, will address safe patient handling. The American Nurses Association held a congressional briefing May 12 on the topic.

Jean Lucas (shown at right), a retired registered nurse and member of Health Professionals and Allied Employees, an AFT NHP affiliate in New Jersey, was a panel member for the briefing. Lucas worked in the maternal intermediate care unit at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., until she suffered a life-altering injury in 2004 while helping a 600-pound patient. "I live with constant pain," says Lucas. "Some days are worse than others."

Lucas had planned to work until 65, but her injury made that impossible. So she became an advocate for safe patient handling instead. Thanks to her advocacy, Cooper University Hospital and the local union that Lucas presided over as president for several years before her retirement have implemented a safe patient-handling program. When HPAE lobbied for safe handling legislation in New Jersey, Lucas offered her testimony, and eventually a measure was passed. Now, Lucas wants to see national legislation. "I have seen many colleagues leave the bedside because of injuries they suffered. I feel certain that if we were able to provide a "safe lift environment," many of the nurses who have left would return to the bedside."

[Adrienne Coles/photos by Michael Campbell]