To: Dave Brat

From: Mikayla Crookshanks

Date: 10/24/17
Subject: H.R. 2392 Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017
Everyday nurses are put into impossible situations where they are assigned too many patients or
too high of care acuity patients. This makes it increasingly hard to provide safe, effective care
(National Nurses United, 2017). However, there is a way to solve this problem – enforcing
minimum nurse-patient ratios nationwide and I support H.R. 2392 Nurse Staffing Standards for
Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017 in its efforts to get such ratio guidelines mandated.
Studies show that inadequate staffing and high nurse-patient ratios not only affects the nurse’s
health and work satisfaction and significantly decreases the availability of safe, effective care,
but it also increases the risk of medical errors and adverse events. The health of nurses and their
patients’ should always be prioritized over the monetary benefit or savings of high nurse-patient
ratios.

 According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for every
additional patient a nurse is assigned after four patients (in an acute care setting), there is
a 23 percent increased risk of burnout and a 15 percent decrease in overall job
satisfaction (Department for Professional Employees, 2016).
 In terms of decreased patient care, studies also show that with every additional patient
added to a nurse’s shift assignment comes a 7 percent increase in the likelihood of
mortality (Department for Professional Employees, 2016).
Recommendation: Vote to pass bill H.R. 2392 Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and
Quality Care Act of 2017. As you can see based on these statistics and many more, high nurse-
patient ratios do not result in favorable outcomes for either party. I recommend that all hospitals
establish and maintain minimum staffing ratios. In addition, efforts need to be made to provide
adequate registered nurse staffing, according to patient acuity and census, in order to consistently
meet these ratios every shift.
Hospitals are supposed to be safe places for patients to come in their time of need and be
confident that they will receive adequate and effective treatment and nursing care. When dealing
with the many factors and worries associated with being hospitalized, the last thing patients and
their family members/friends should have to worry about is if they are going to receive the care
and attention they deserve.
 References
Congress.gov (2017-2018). H.R.2392 - Nurse staffing standards for hospital patient safety and

quality care act of 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-

congress/house-bill/2392?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22nurse%22%5D%7D&r=5

Dorning, J. Department for Professional Employees (2016). Safe-staffing ratios: Benefiting

nurses and patients. Retrieved from: http://dpeaflcio.org/programs-publications/issue-

fact-sheets/safe-staffing-ratios-benefiting-nurses-and-patients/#_edn13

National Nurses United (2017). National campaign for safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios.

Retrieved from: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/ratios