Leaders of the legislature’s public health committee said Monday they are committed to tackling a health care worker shortage by exploring mandated nurse staffing ratios, which allow hospitals to implement mandatory overtime, and increasing staffing numbers. Examining recruitment and retention strategies for
“This is a crisis. And it is moving quickly toward disaster,” said Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, co-chair of the committee. “This disaster is preventable. This is the reality – we have to intervene at this time.
“If you don’t have enough staff, more people die. If you don’t have enough staff, you are increasing the risk of medical errors.”
Workers with the American Federation of Teachers in Connecticut, which represents about 7,500 health care workers, urged lawmakers on Monday to address a staffing shortage that they say poses a risk to both staff and patients.
A February 2022 survey found that 23% of health care workers, nearly one in four, “are likely to leave the health care field soon,” AFT officials noted in a national study.
“Staffing is bad. I think, across the hospital, we’re hovering around a 30% to 35% vacancy rate. And we’re using a lot [traveling nurses]Sherry Dayton, a registered nurse at the Plainfield Emergency Care Center, a standalone emergency department that is part of Backus Hospital, told CT Mirror.
On any given day, the nurse-to-patient ratio at her facility is one nurse for every six patients, she said. Sometimes it is one nurse for every eight patients. Dayton said a 4-to-1 ratio in the emergency department is safe and ideal.
Labor officials asked legislators to pass a bill with mandatory staffing ratios or required levels of staffing. California mandates the staffing ratio, and Dayton said he hopes Connecticut legislators will look to that state when drafting local legislation.
Connecticut Hospital Association officials oppose the staffing ratio.
“There is much more to be done to expand and support the nursing workforce in Connecticut,” said Jennifer Jackson, CEO of the hospital union. “Patients need a stronger health care workforce, and hospitals and health systems in Connecticut are working to educate, train, and retain more nurses and other health care professionals in the state, to expand their workforce and in education and health care.” working with partners.”
“Focusing on government-mandated nurse staffing ratios will stop the work we need to do,” she said. “In fact, staffing ratios will exacerbate the problem, causing delays in care and costs, with corporate nurse staffing agencies as potential beneficiaries.”
Anwar did not give any details about what ratio he and other MPs might propose.
Mandatory overtime is also driving some nurses out of the industry. Connecticut law prohibits mandatory overtime for hospital nurses, except under certain circumstances, such as adverse weather conditions, widespread illness or catastrophe, public health emergencies, if a nurse is participating in a surgical procedure, or if The nurse is employed in a critical care unit. and is not relieved by the employee in the next shift.
Labor officials said some union contracts include a perk for mandatory overtime — double pay during those hours — and hospital administrators believe contract language allows them to mandate overtime.
“They’re using this as a loophole for the law,” said John Brady, a retired registered nurse and vice president of AFT Connecticut.
Nurses at Dayton’s facility typically work 12-hour shifts, he said, but some are mandated to work four hours of overtime on top of that.
Labor officials called on the General Assembly to address mandatory overtime by closing loopholes caused by some collective bargaining agreements. A bill expanding restrictions on hospitals’ ability to mandate overtime passed out of the public health committee last year, but ultimately was not taken up in the House or Senate.
He also asked legislators to enact policies that boost recruitment and retention, such as student loan forgiveness.
AFT president Randy Weingarten told lawmakers on Monday, “I’m here today to ‘help us.'” “If you help us, we will be able to help more patients. People who go into health care want to make a difference in the lives of others. Help us do it. Don’t let us deal with dangerous situations that are getting worse and worse and worse.”