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|  |  Nurses Report Chronic Understaffing in New York City Public HospitalsPress Release October 18, 2005 NEW YORK -- (10/18/2005; 1500)(EIS) -- The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) today released data documenting the chronic shortages of registered nurses in hospitals operated by New York City's Heal th and Hospital Corporation. These shortages defy guidelines, studies and recommendations that describe nurse staffing levels as critical to safe patient care. "We estimate that HHC has more than 1,000 nurse vacancies throughout their system," said Lorraine Seidel, director of the collective bargaining program of NYSNA, which represents the nurses at HHC facilities. "Over the past five years the number of nurses on staff at New York City's HHC facilities has decreased by almost 10%," said Anne Bove, a clinical nurse instructor at Bellevue Hospital Center and president of NYSNA's Delegate Assembly. "Research studies have shown added risks for patients when nurses are required to care for more and more patients. If City Hall fails to reverse the policies that are driving registered nurses from the city's public hospitals, patients will pay the price." Low salaries and poor working conditions compel many new nurses to leave the system almost as soon as they arrive: 44% of newly hired RNs leave New York City's public hospitals before completing their third year of service. Meanwhile, HHC's longest-serving nurses are nearing retirement, with 23% of the current nurse workforce above age 55. In the next five years, HHC needs to replace more than 50% of its current total nursing staff just to maintain the current, unacceptable staffing levels. Inadequate salaries make it difficult to recruit new RNs and keep experienced nurses in the system. The starting salary of an entry-level nurse at a New York City public hospital is 11% less than the same nurse would earn at private hospitals in the city. After 30 years of experience, nurses working at the city's public hospitals earn 20% less. NYSNA outlined more than 3,700 "protests of assignment" filed by HHC nurses from September 2003 to September 2005. Nurses file the protests with their union and the employer when nurses, in their professional opinion, judge that conditions are unsafe for patients. -- 23.7% of the unsafe patient care conditions were documented by nurses working in critical care units. -- 19.7% were filed by RNs working in emergency departments. -- 19.4% were reported by RNs working in medical/surgical units. -- 17.8% were filed by RNs working in psychiatric units. Nurses who filed protests overwhelmingly cited reasons related to inadequate staffing. The most commonly cited patient safety concern was that nurses had "insufficient time to complete documentation" (35.5%), followed by "caseloads too high and impeded patient care" (33.3%) and "an inadequate number of qualified staff" (11.1%). Stopping the forced exodus of nurses from city hospitals is key to improving patient safety. It also will ensure the future of the HHC system and save the city millions of dollars. -- HHC spent $67.9 million in FY 2005 on agency nurses (temporary staff hired through outside contractors). -- HHC will spend up to $69.5 million annually to address an average turnover rate of 644 nurses per year over the next five years. NYSNA is calling on Mayor Bloomberg to improve patient safety throughout New York City's public hospital system with these recommendations: -- Safeguard patient care and improve nurse working conditions by restoring safe nurse-patient ratios. -- Focus resources on closing the salary gap between HHC and private facilities so nurses remain in the public system, instead of HHC spending millions on turnover costs and temporary help. -- Implement a nurse preceptor program and a clinical ladder to help HHC retain new RNs, enhance RN training, recognize RN excellence, and create more options for career advancement within HHC. -- Involve nurse leaders in all levels of management and solicit input from nursing staff on decisions about work design, scheduling, implementation, and especially patient safety, as recommended by the Institute of Medicine and numerous other studies. "It's good that the Bloomberg administration is investing in HHC capital projects -- $1.3 billion announced last week alone. But patients need more than buildings; they need nurses to care for them," said Nancy Kaleda, senior associate director of NYSNA's collective bargaining program. "The nursing shortage in the city's hospitals is a growing public health crisis." A copy of the report is available at NYSNA's Web site, www.nysna.org. ###
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