This affects me how?

In January 2023 nurses from two private Hospitals in New York City, Montefiore Medical center in the Bronx, and Mont Sinai Hospital in upper Manhattan went on strike. The most important issue on their agenda was staffing ratios. Apparently staffing ratios was in their contract but it was not enforced, that's why nurses were holding out and negotiations dragged on. Nurses wanted to make sure that issue was enforced. So what exactly is nurse to staff ratios? it is the number of patients 1 licensed nurse is assigned to during their shift, or the number of patients each nurse is assigned to. So its the ratio of nurses to patients.

According to the American Nurses association, appropriate staffing levels has many positive benefits for patients. It reduces the length of hospital stays of the patient, it reduces the number of preventable events such as falls and infections, and I am sure I don't have to tell you that when you are hospitalized and in pain, and waiting for your nurse to bring you your pain medication, having a smaller number of patients a nurse is assigned to means not having to wait longer for you pain medication.

In the Department of Professional Employees handbook of 2016 an article entitled "Safe- staffing-ratios:Benefiting Nurses and Patients" It brings out that in 2004 California was the first state to use minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. It was used to keep patients safe and for nurse retention. From this change that was implemented, studies have shown improvement in patient care, such as a " 13.9% fewer surgical deaths in California than New jersey, and 10% fewer deaths in Pennsylvania." And according to a 2007 study on safe staffing in Medical Care "an increase of 1 Registered Nurse per patient was associated with a 24% reduction in time spent in the intensive care and a 31% reduction in time spent in surgical units., and finally in long term care facilities patients with more direct RN time(30-40 minutes per patient) reported fewer pressure ulcers, acute care hospitalizations, urinary tract infections, urinary catheters, and less deterioration in their ability to perform daily living activities."

So in conclusion, the issue of safe staffing affects all of us. it affects health care workers but more importantly it affects you, the public. Don't think for a minute the issue of striking nurses have nothing to do with the public. It effects everyone on this planet. One day you or your loved one will be in need of attentive medical care from a professional. You would not want that nurse to have a high patient load so they have a small amount of time to spend with you. So lets support our nurses, when we support them we are actually supporting ourselves and our loved ones.