Policy Problem
High staffing levels of experienced registered nurses is closely linked to negative patient outcomes and subsequent costs involved. Poor staffing of nurses increases the rate of readmission of patients. Medicare does not normally cover costs incurred as a result of patient readmissions caused by the same condition within one month. The readmissions often cost the Medicare about $26 billion annually. In this regard, adequate staffing has the potential of reducing the instances of such readmissions.
Background
The bill seeks to adjust the Public Health Service Act for health facilities to formulate and deliver a proper staffing plan that encompasses a defined minimum nurse to patient ratio in every unit within the hospital. In this regard, hospitals are expected to provide an outline of how they intend to implement the nurse-to-patient ratios (Galt & Paschal, 2011) . The Department of Health is also expected to adjust Medicare payments to cover extra costs sustained when providing medication to Medicare beneficiaries in compliance with the nurse-to-patient ratios (Goodman, 2012) . According to the bill, nurses have the obligation of acting based on their professional judgment as relates to the interests and needs of the patients. It is possible for nurses to refuse to take part in operations that would make them violate the provisions of the hospital minimum ratio (Galt & Paschal, 2011) . Nurses who go against such provisions risk compromising their license for practice. Passage of legislations that seek to help nurses and patients forms a fundamental component of nurse practice advocacy. It is a common occurrence for nurses to advocate for the rights of their patients as well as the community where they work. However, it is equally important for the nurses to lend their expertise to officials in the health care sector when it comes to drafting of laws that are applicable to the nurse profession (Goodman, 2012) . In this regard, this bill, as advocated by Senator Pete Campos in the Senate seeks to improve the state of health care and in turn ensure that both patients and nurses are safe. The Safe Staffing Act requires nurses to form a committee that encompasses 55% direct care nurses that would have the role of formulating nurse staffing plans that are applicable and vital in a range of units within the hospital setup.
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Affected Population
The bill is applicable to a section of the population that is not able to afford specialized healthcare. Understaffing is often witnessed in the public health sector where the government fails to provide adequate funds to finance the activities of the hospitals. In most cases, it is only the low-income earners that go to the public hospitals for medication (Gault, 2016) . For this reason, the bill seeks to serve the interests of the poor by ensuring that the patients are given adequate healthcare and this can only be achieved if the hospitals are properly staffed. The bill seeks to formulate nurse staffing plans with the objective of ensuring that all the patient needs are met and that the safety of the patients is equally guaranteed (In Moss, 2016, p. 88) . Most low income patients cannot afford health insurance services in the public hospitals. Therefore, this bill seeks to take care of that section of the population (Gault, 2016) . It is the responsibility of the government to take care of the population by offering adequate services such as medical care. Some of the issues addressed by the legislation include abolition of mandatory overtime, safe limits for patient assignment, and increased recruitment of nurses (Hurwitz & Sheikh, 2009, p. 54) . When enacted, the law would serve to enhance healthcare quality for all patients in the healthcare facilities while saving thousands of lives.
It is common knowledge that nurses face risks of staying longer in the hospitals, which increases their probability of getting more infections. In addition, most of these health facilities have low nurse-to-patent ratio (In Stanley, 2017) . An understaffed hospital has lower nurse retention and high levels of burnout. Adequate nurse staffing ensures that patients are safe and that they are protected from any form of preventable complications as well as protecting them from the risks of death. Nursing care is instrumental in the process of giving medication to a patient because it saves the lives of patients. In this regard, providing poor medication or withholding it all together amounts to serious violation of the rights of a patient.
One legislative proposal
One legislative proposal related to this bill relates to a bill that was initiated by Senator Vitale and Senator Weinberg during the 2016-2017 sessions. The bill equally addressed the idea of ensuring safe staffing and proper patient care (Lingo, 2018). To ensure that the objectives of this bill is achieved, the government should set up staffing standards for all registered professional nurses who wish to work in the healthcare facilities around the country. In addition, it is necessary to set a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio (Lingo, 2018, p. 43). In effect, all hospitals must adhere to these provisions failure to which they risk losing their license to operate. Provision of proper healthcare should be the number one agenda for a government that is keen in ensuring a healthy population.
Final Recommendation
The bill should direct the Department of Public Health to formulate and apply the staffing standards in every healthcare facility, which involves assigning one patient to one registered nurse at all times. Safe staffing limits should also be implemented in every nurse teaching hospital as well as the community healthcare facilities (Sanchez, 2017) . The Patient Safe Staffing Act serves as an empowerment to the direct care nurses since it enables the nurses to establish the variable needs of patients while ensuring their safety and quality healthcare outcomes (Vincent, 2010) . Nurses experience a myriad of challenges in their daily activities while attending to the patients. Most health facilities have strived to improve patient safety and care but many challenges come along the way, such as overworking nurses and understaffing the hospitals. Safe and proper staffing improves healthcare quality, eliminates medical errors, and ensures retention of nurses in the hospitals (Waterson et al., 2017) . Introducing the bill is just the first step to solving the problem of understaffing and poor patient care. All stakeholders should take part in pushing forward the agenda of the healthcare system, which is mainly to provide adequate patient care.
Conclusion
The bill is very critical and should be embraced by any citizen that seeks to live in a healthy country. For this reason, the government should fast track the areas that need changes to ensure a successful implementation. Understaffing has been linked to problems that range from long stay in the hospitals to patient infections to other medical complications. Studies have shown that safe staffing can greatly reduce the number of acquired infections in the hospitals. Negligence and medical errors should also be avoided at all cost because they significantly contribute to the loss of lives of thousands of patients.
References
Galt, K. A., & Paschal, K. A. (2011). Foundations in patient safety for health professionals . Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Goodman, T. (2012). Advocacy, An Issue of Perioperative Nursing Clinics - E-Book . Saunders
Gault, I. (2016). Communication in nursing and healthcare: A guide for compassionate practice . Sage Publications Ltd.
Hurwitz, B., & Sheikh, A. (2009). Health care errors and patient safety . Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell/BMJ Books.
In Moss, M. P. (2016). American Indian health and nursing . New York : Springer Publishing Company.
In Stanley, D. (2017). Clinical leadership in nursing and healthcare: Values into action . Chichester, West Sussex : Wiley Blackwell.
Lingo A. (2018). Safe Nurse for patient safety legislation. Retrieved from https://passportusa.com/safe-nurse-staffing-bill/
Sanchez, J. A. (2017). Surgical patient care: Improving safety, quality and value . Cham: Springer.
Vincent, C. (2010). Patient safety . Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Link: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=CbJwsamhVdoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Patient+care+and+safety&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1pdf_q73gAhVRi3AKHdZHDycQ6AEIVDAH#v=onepage&q=Patient%20care%20and%20safety&f=false
Waterson, P., Giuliani, F., Meier, M., & Vegten-Schmalzl, A. . (2017). Patient safety culture: Theory, methods and application . Boca Raton CRC Press.
Link: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=49ARBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Patient+care+and+safety&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1pdf_q73gAhVRi3AKHdZHDycQ6AEIXzAJ#v=onepage&q=Patient%20care%20and%20safety&f=false
