Nurses understaffed and overworked

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - A battle between nurses and hospitals is brewing on Beacon Hill. A group of registered nurses say they’re understaffed and overworked, putting patients at risk. They’re pursuing a pair of bills that will limit their workload and work hours in the name of “patient safety.”

Testifying before the Legislature’s health care committee, Donna Kelly-Williams, a registered nurse, explained how mandatory overtime hours leaves nurses like herself overworked.

“I can tell you that I’m not as sharp as I am in my sixteenth hour as I am in my first hour of work and it’s exhausting,” said Kelly-Williams, who also serves as president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (“MNA”).

Other nurses said thin staffing forces them to take on up to 6 to 12 patients at a time.

“It’s very demoralizing to come to work day after day and have an assignment that you know that you can’t handle,” said Marie Ritacco, a registered nurse and board member on the MNA.

Together, the MNA is urging lawmakers to act on a pair of bills that will limit four patients to a nurse at any one time and limit a nurse’s work day to 12 hours, except during a state or national emergency.

Hospital groups are opposed to the legislation.

“Their answer is to treat all hospitals, all patients, and all nurses alike when that is hardly close to the truth,” said Massachusetts Hospital Association Vice President of Government Advocacy Michael Sroczynski.

Different hospital departments have different staffing needs say opponents, and assigning four patients to a nurse it arbitrary. Instead, they say hospitals and nurses should work together to resolve problems individually and not through legislation.

“It needs to be a process. One mandated ratio cannot apply,” said Sharon Gale, CEO of the Organization of Nurse Leaders for Massachusetts & Rhode Island. “Hospitals are all different throughout the state. [The ratio of patients to nurses] needs to be customized and individualized so it’s the right care for the right patient at the right time.”

But supporters of the bill maintain that better workload management will reduce medical errors and therefore save hospitals money in the long term.

Opponents say staffing has increased in Massachusetts every year for the past decade and a set ratio of nurses to patients doesn’t resolve the complexity of the problem.