According to an Associated Press article, it seems that the debate over the bill is causing a bit of a split between nurses and hospitals.

The New York State Nurses Association backs the bill saying that “members at 57 unionized hospitals last year filed 19,292 separate protests of staffing assignments they considered unsafe.” Those in favor of laws mandating nurse staffing believe that requiring one nurse for every two ICU patients and 1-to-4 ratios in medical-surgical units will improve patient experience and care while decreasing deaths and re-admissions. Proponents also believe complaints will plummet and that hospitals will be just fine financially.

On the other hand, New York’s hospitals are against the bill saying it would hinder their ability to be flexible with staff scheduling and that it would cost facilities and nursing homes approximately $3 billion annually. Many facilities believe they can self-police and move staff around as needed to maintain quality patient care. This camp believes service will actually suffer as a result of such legislation because due to the anticipated financial stress services will actually suffer too.

If the bill is successful it would be the second such set of laws mandating nurse staffing. In 1999 California passed legislation setting mandatory nurse staff ratios — although the laws were not implemented until 2004. Both opponents and advocates of the bill use California’s experience to defend their position.

The AP article cites a 2002 study from the Journal of American Medical Association which found that “hospitals with high patient-to-nurse ratios had higher death rates among surgical patients and nursing staff more likely to experience burnout. The study of more than 10,000 nurses and 230,000 patients found that with each additional patient assigned to a nurse, the likelihood of dying within 30 days after admission rose 7 percent.”

But, as Brian Conway, of the Greater New York Hospital Association told the AP the bill would actually work against its own goals costing money, draining resources, and resulting in less support staff.

How do you think laws mandating nurse staffing in your state would affect patient care and finances/resources in your facility?

A recent article, “Revamp Nurse Staffing Policies and Cut Costs,” published at Health Leaders Media, discusses some of the key benefits of re-evaluating your nurse staffing policies and also details some of the helpful changes put into place by the WellStar Health System, which is based in Marietta, Georgia.

The crux of the changes made at WellStar had to do with making sure nurses were working their full set of hours but not regularly exceeding them. Some nurses were cutting shifts short and others were routinely working too many hours. An hour shaved off of a shift here and there can really eat into costs as well as throw the rest of the staff’s rhythm. And on the other hand, of course, nurses working too much overtime can lead directly to burnout. In the words of Goldilocks, they wanted the hours to be juuuuust right — no more, no less. Achieving this balance is instrumental to staff satisfaction.

As discussed in the article, many facilities have begun using scheduling software, which allows administrators to drill down and really get a clear picture of their staffing realities, in order to determine strong and weak areas, what’s working, what’s not, and most importantly why. Once that’s clear, streamlining policies, standardizing shift times, and holding staff accountable can have a big impact when it comes to cutting costs. Communicating any changes in nurse staffing policies to your staff in a direct and positive way is key to making the changes stick and achieving your objective of a happy, efficient, cost-effective workforce.

Last week was about celebrating nurses specifically, but this week, May 12-18, takes a broader stance. Hospitals Week is about honoring the many important components, including talented healthcare professionals, that come together to provide successful patient care in a comfortable environment.

A big part of this celebration honors the important role hospitals play within their communities, as trusted centers of healing, research and more. And even beyond the cities and towns they exist within, hospitals are also their own interesting micro-communities.

Make sure to take this week to celebrate your unique hospital community and culture, as well as the essential impact it has on the larger surrounding community. From doctors and nurses, to administrators, food services, and beyond — thank you hospitals for keeping us healthy and happy!

This new branch of the Medical Solutions staffing arsenal provides our clients the opportunity to staff their facilities with temporary Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants, in addition to the first-rate travel RN staffing we already offer. Let us help you improve your facility’s ratios, fight full-time staff burnout, and maintain quality patient care with the added versatility of locum tenems Advanced Practice professionals.

Visit our Advanced Practice site to learn more about this exciting addition and how you can utilize our services to reach your facility’s goals.

Some benefits of an MSP include:

• Reduction of time spent dealing with various other agencies, allowing your operation to run more efficiently without interruption. Single point of contact.
• Custom tracking and reporting.
• Minimize time spent in pre-screening & hiring.
• Eliminate costs for advertising and benefits.
• Dedicated Compliance Manager to manage protocol and
• paperwork.
• Drastically reduce costs associated with turnover, improve quality of patient care and decrease nurse-to-patient ratios.

To learn more about Medical Solutions Managed Service Provider (MSP) click here.

Do you think MSPs are a good idea?

What does this mean for hospitals? If nurses aren’t happy at work, yet still want to increase their education in the career- it makes sense for nurse managers and leaders to help their employees reach their goals. Helping with tuition reimbursement and conducting onsite educational courses are both ways to help employees reach their educational goals.

With this support, nurses will likely feel more valued and supported at work. It also makes it easier to decide between working for a hospital that has these educational benefits versus ones that do not.

See more on the study here.

Does your facility offer advanced education benefits to your employees?

Here are some tips to use to ensure your hospital stands out:

1.)    Check out your competition. Are they making an impact in social media? Do people engage with them on Facebook commenting on their posts or sharing their photos? This is the best place to look to get a few ideas on how to make your strategy better. You can also learn from their mistakes on what not to do.

2.)    Share your patient’s stories! People can easily connect and sympathize (and possibly empathize) with patients. Sharing a success story about a patient is a great way to gain a connection with your social media followers.

3.)    Monitor your negative comments. You may see people leaving negative feedback on your social media profile as a bad thing. While usually it is, it’s also a way for you to publicly use customer retention to correct the problem. People will appreciate that you are acknowledging the problem and doing your best to make it right.

4.)    Track your link clicks and utilize the social media analytics to track your progression.  Decide from this data which posts warrant the most engagement and are having an effect on your followers.

What do you think ?

Here is an infographic based information surveyed from healthcare professionals on how they are using technology to educate their patients.

At Medical Solutions, we know what a hardship this can be and have created a guide to help and prevent nurse burnout in your facility. Discover the 7 visible signs your nurses may be suffering from burnout and how to prevent it at your hospital.

Visit Preventing Nurse Burnout in Your Hospital to download the free guide.

The survey questions evaluate the following key eight areas:

Communication with physicians
Cleanliness of facility
Pain management
Communication regarding medications
Responsiveness of hospital employees
Dismissal information
Quietness of facility environment
Communication with nurses

The information gathered on the survey is publicly accessible and leads to greater transparency within the healthcare system.

How does this relate to you? We are receiving large amounts of communication from our partner hospitals regarding HCAHPS and patient perspective. Travel staff are held to the same standards for patient satisfaction and we are seeing evaluations at the end of assignments addressing these areas.

We are excited to continue to partner with facilities to improve the patient experience! If you would like additional information on HCAHPS the following links have additional info.

Hospital Compare.gov

HCAHPS Fact Sheet