NURSING
LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN THE VERMONT LEGISLATURE
Since
the historic RN union election victory
in October 2002 at Fletcher Allen Health
Care (FAHC), a number of RNs and other
healthcare workers involved in the
Justice For Healthcare Workers Campaign
have been working with Vermont legislators
to develop legislative proposals to
ease the crisis in their profession.
Click
here to read more about this legislation.
|
|
JUSTICE
FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS CAMPAIGN ACTION ALERT
April
8th Statehouse Action & Healthcare Workers Rights Legislative
Initiatives.
At 2PM on Tuesday, April 8th join Registered Nurses from around Vermont to deliver
hundreds of cards to state legislators that call on the passing of bills which
would help reform the healthcare industry. Please join us on the
Statehouse steps!
WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW:
Please
contact your legislators in support of the legislation we
are backing. Below are some good "factoids" supporting the Safe
Staffing and Quality Patient Care Act S.158 and H.335 (for details of these
bills CLICK LINK).
SEND A LETTER (addresses below this sample
letter)
Take a minute to send a quick letter to your legislators asking them to support
these bills
Sample
Email Letter: (Select and copy text from this
box, then click onto e-mail addresses listed below, then
paste text into the body of an e-mail and edit to personalize.)
Dear __________________,
As a community member (or healthcare provider working at _______ ), I am very
concerned about frequent short staffing of RNs.
The facts are clear-- poorly staffed health care institutions lead to greater
patient deaths. Here is a summary of some recent research on the link between
poor staffing and bad outcomes:
After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, each additional patient
per nurse was associated with a 7% increase in the likelihood of patients dying
within 30 days of admission and a 7% increase in failure to rescue. (Aiken,
Linda et. al., "Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout
and Job Dissatisfaction," Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol.
288, No. 16, October 23/30, 2002, pps. 1987-1993.)
Nurse staffing is a predictor of risk-adjusted mortality. In studying 2190 hospitals,
it was found that 10.7% of the variance in patient mortality was explained by
nurse staffing ratios. ("A Matter of Life and Death," Modern
Healthcare, Special Supplement, September 30, 2002, pps. 16-20.)
Nurse staffing shortages are a factor in one out of every four unexpected hospital
deaths or injuries caused by errors. (Joint Commission for the
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2002.)
In a study of data from eleven states, higher nurse staffing levels were related
to lower instances of urinary track infections, pneumonia, upper gastrointestinal
bleeding and shock in medical patients and lower rates of "failure to rescue" in
major surgery patients. (Needleman, J.; Buerhaus, P.; Mattke,
S; Stewart, S.; and Zelevinsky, K. Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes in Hospitals.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: February 2001.)
Higher nurse:patient ratios were strongly associated with lower mortality rates
in dedicated AIDs units. Patient satisfaction was strongly associated with organizational
control of care by bedside nurses. (Aiken, L.H.; Sloane, D.G.,;Lake
E.T.; Sochalski, J.; and Weber A.L. Organization and outcomes of inpatient AIDS
care. Medical Care, 37(3): 760-772, 1999.)
I urge you to hold hearings on S. 158 , the Safe Staffing and Quality Patient
Care Act, and also on two other bills that would improve conditions for nurses
(and patients) S. 157, the Ban on Mandatory Overtime Act, and S. 154, the WhistleblowerProtection
Act.
For emails to Represenatives it would be:
I urge you to hold hearings on H. 335, the Safe Staffing and Quality Patient
Care Act, and also on two other bills that would improve conditions for nurses
(and patients) H. 157, the Ban on Mandatory Overtime Act, and H. 128, which includes
whistleblower protection.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
Phone |
WHERE TO SEND THEM:
Directory of Representatives: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/districts.cfm?Body=H
Directory of Senators: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/districts.cfm?Body=S%20
Senator Leddy of Chittenden County, D - Chair
Leddy, James P.
14 Elsom Parkway , South Burlington, VT 05403
863-6613
jleddy@leg.state.vt.us
Senator Munt of Chittenden County, Vice-Chair, D
Munt, Janet S.
85 South Street , Burlington, VT 05401
862-9342
Senatorjanetmunt@aol.com
Senator Doyle of Washington County, R
Doyle, William T.
Murray Road , Montpelier, VT 05602
223-2851
Johnson State College , Johnson, VT 05656
635-2356
wdoyle@leg.state.vt.us
Senator Lyons of Chittenden County, D
Lyons, Virginia "Ginny" V.
241 White Birch Lane , Williston, VT 05495
863-6129
vlyons@leg.state.vt.us
vvlyons@cs.com
Senator White of Windham County, D
White, Jeanette K.
35A Old Depot Road , Putney, VT 05346
387-4379
Sojourns Community Health Clinic , 4923 US Route 5 , Westminster, VT 05158
722-4023
jwhite@leg.state.vt.us
House Committee on Health & Welfare
(Room 46)
Representative Koch of Barre Town, R - Chair
Koch, Thomas F.
326 Lowery Road , Barre, VT 05641
479-2688
Bernasconi & Koch P.C. , P.O. Box 892 , Barre, VT 05641
476-4141
tkoch@leg.state.vt.us
Fax: 476-3982
Representative Connell of Warren, Vice-Chair, D
Connell, Kinny
140 Brook Road, P.O. Box 76A, Warren, VT 05674
496-3437
Friends of the Mad River , General Wait House , Waitsfield, VT 05673
496-9127
kconnell@leg.state.vt.us
kinny@madriver.com
Representative DePoy of Rutland City, R
DePoy, Thomas S.
87 Killington Avenue , Rutland, VT 05701
773-5466
Green Mountain Kleen , 78 Killington Avenue , Rutland, VT 05701
747-1337
Representative Donahue of Northfield, R
Donahue, Anne B.
148 Donahue Drive , Northfield, VT 05663
485-6431
adonahue@leg.state.vt.us
counterp@tds.net
Representative Hall of Newport City, R
Hall, John K.
95 Pine Grove Cemetery Road , Newport, VT 05855
334-1709
jhall@leg.state.vt.us
Fax: 334-3190
Representative Houston of Ferrisburgh, R
Houston, Connie T.
3735 Basin Harbor Road , Vergennes, VT 05491
475-2359
Town and Country Homes , Panton Road , Vergennes, VT 05491
475-2358
chouston@leg.state.vt.us
Fax: 475-2359
Representative Keogh of Burlington, D
Keogh, Bill
21 Alder Lane , Burlington, VT 05401
862-5270
BillK21@earthlink.net
Representative Kirker of Essex, R
Kirker, Linda
28 Villa Drive , Essex Junction, VT 05452
878-3748
American Red Cross Blood Services , 32 North Prospect Street , Burlington, VT
05401
658-6400 x3259
lkirker@leg.state.vt.us
lkirker@together.net
Representative Maier of Middlebury, D
Maier, Steven
122 Green Mountain Place , Middlebury, VT 05753
388-7669
smaier@leg.state.vt.us
Representative Martin of Springfield, D
Martin, Clint
903 French Meadow Road , Springfield, VT 05156
886-8470
cmartin@leg.state.vt.us
ctm@vermontel.com
Representative Vincent of Waterbury, D
Vincent, Val , P.O. Box 131 , Waterbury, VT 05676
244-6313
Fax: 244-1893
Representative Sunderland of Rutland Town, R
Sunderland, David A.
91 Sand Hill Circle , Rutland Town, VT 05701
775-6229
dsunderland@leg.state.vt.us
Return to top |
|
