Nurses at Inspira Health win guaranteed nurse-to-patients safe staffing ratios
HPAE Nurses at Inspira Health win guaranteed nurse-to-patients safe staffing ratios
Patients in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties can now access a hospital in their community with safe staffing levels guaranteed through Union Contracts
Patients can now access hospitals with guaranteed safe staffing in Cumberland County, Gloucester County and Salem County. Nurses of HPAE Locals 5131, 5142 and 5621 at Inspira Health have ratified new groundbreaking contracts with guaranteed nurse-to-patient safe staffing ratios as well as improved wages, benefits and working conditions.
HPAE has now negotiated nine contracts in the past year that include guaranteed safe staffing standards that will help to recruit and retain nurses, while improving the quality of care.
HPAE President Debbie White, RN, congratulated HPAE nurses at Inspira Health, for setting new standards in nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurse to patient ratios cap the number of patients a hospital nurse can care for at any given time and are based on 20 years of studies showing it is best for patients.
“These contracts are testament to the resolve of our nurses as they advocate for patients,” White said. “Because of their work, patients in South Jersey, patients will receive better, safer care. Safe staffing helps hospitals recruit and retain nurses and is a solution to the ‘nursing shortage’, which is really just an ongoing migration of nurses out of our hospitals.”
“In addition, Inspira hospitals will, ultimately, save money because safe staffing standards decrease turnover costs and increase reimbursement,” White added.
The Inspira Health Hospitals’ ground-breaking staffing standards include the following nurse to patient staffing ratios:
- 1:5 in Acute Care/med-surg units.
- 1:4 in Stepdown units.
- 1:2 in Critical Care units (NICU/ICU/etc.) unless the acuity level demands 1:1.
- Emergency Department specific staffing
“We were united, and we stuck together because this issue is just too important to put off any longer,” Local 5621 President April Ferrara, RN, said. “I hope this will reduce the anxiety many of us have after our shifts, questioning whether we have given the very best care we’re capable of. Because of these contracts, I know Inspira Health patients, and my nursing colleagues are going to benefit from these new standards.”
Hackensack Meridian Health, one of New Jersey’s largest hospital systems, agreed last year to nurse-to-patient ratios at Local 5030 at Palisades Medical Center and this year at Local 5138 at Southern Ocean Medical Center. Last year two of New Jersey’s Level 1 Trauma centers: Local 5118 at Cooper Medical Center in Camden and Local 5089 at University Hospital in Newark also agreed to nurse to patient ratios, along with local 5004 at Englewood Medical Center. Also, this year members at Local 5091at New Bridge Medical Center in Bergen County bargained safe staffing into their contract as well.
RESOURCES:
- Understaffed. Unsafe for everyone: The urgent need for Safe Staffing legislation in New Jersey
- Results of Survey of Current & Recent Bedside Nurses in NJ Hospitals
- Decades of Safe Staffing and Current Research
- HPAE POSITION PAPER, MARCH 2023 | Understaffed. Overworked. Unsafe for everyone: The urgent need for Safe Staffing legislation in New Jersey
- HPAE POSITION PAPER II, APRIL 2024 | Understaffed. Overworked. Unsafe for everyone: The urgent need for Safe Staffing legislation in New Jersey
For more information, contact: Michael Allen, (646) 436-7556.
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