By HPAE President Debbie White, RN

EMERSON NJ—It never ceases to amaze those of us who have read the research and know the truth, just how “uninformed” many hospital administrators claim to be.  This is not a guess or an estimate; there is well-documented research showing that safe staffing is best for patients, nurses and even the hospitals, themselves.

It’s been 20+ years since California mandated safe patient assignments for nurses in hospitals.  In the many, many studies that one can easily access on Google, there exists a wealth of information showing that when there are mandated limits on the number of patients a hospital nurse can care for at any given time, it’s good for patients. The following are the benefits researched for patients.  (Please note italics for translation)

• Lower mortality rates. This means patients survive more often.
• Fewer readmissions. Patients fully recover after discharge.
• Shorter length of stay. Patients are discharged quicker.
• Fewer Intensive Care Unit Admissions. Patients are less likely to become critically ill.
• Fewer patient infections, injuries and bed sores. Patients get better rather than worse.
• Greater patient satisfaction. Patients like when a nurse is actually available to them.

Since we all know that we can’t retain nurses in our hospitals due to stress and burnout, and that there is an enormous retention issue, the following are the benefits to nurses and to the hospitals where they work.

• Greater nurse job satisfaction, less burnout and stress
• Greater retention of nurses in hospitals.
• Decreased turnover costs for hospitals
• Safer environment for patients and staff
• Better reimbursement for better patient outcomes.
• Better reimbursement for hospitals for greater patient satisfaction scores (yes hospitals actually get more money when patients rate them higher)

Why would any hospital not want these outcomes?

Last year, HPAE bargained contracts with four different hospitals and each contract included new nurse-to-patient ratios.  One of the more savvy employers at Cooper University Hospital, now advertises nurse to patient ratios to recruit nursing staff.  This is the smartest way to both recruit and retain nurses while reaping all the other outlined benefits.

Still, other employers, like Hackensack Meridian, who have already agreed to safe staffing language in the Palisades Medical Center contract last year are still fighting safe staffing at Local 5138 at Southern Ocean Medical Center.  This begs the question of why Hackensack Meridian would allow safe staffing at one facility but not another?

In fact, in most hospitals in our state, traditionally regard nurse staffing as a line item in a budget to be cut to its lowest number to maximize profits. To be clear, we need hospitals to be fiscally responsible, but this is not fiscal responsibility.

Fiscal responsibility recognizes that patients come to the hospital for the 24-hour care by nurses and other healthcare workers.  Patients need a nurse at the bedside who is not preoccupied, stressed, unable to answer questions, pressed for time and generally overwhelmed.  The reason nurses are migrating out of our hospitals is because hospitals will not invest in what the science shows will create the best and safest environment for patients.

I want to take the opportunity of the 2025 Nurses Week—May 6-12—when we honor the dedication and sacrifices of Nurses-- to again highlight how this shortsighted grab for profits is burning out nurses as fast as we can educate them, exacerbating the crisis of hospital staffing to the detriment of patients.

HPAE has been at the forefront of trying to solve this crisis for decades.  We also continue to push for a statewide law, the Patient Protection and Safe Staffing Act S.2700/A.3683.  We appreciate every legislator who has signed on as a co-sponsor to these critical bills. We urge every other legislator to read the research.

At this moment in history, and especially coming out of the pandemic, nurses are no longer willing to tolerate the status quo.  As we saw with the USW strike in with RWJ Barnabas in New Brunswick, they will do whatever it takes to make sure safe staffing is included in their new contracts.  HPAE members will do the same.

The Health Professionals and Allied Employees, New Jersey’s largest health care union, represents more than 15,000 nurses, social workers, therapists, technicians, medical researchers, and other health care professionals in hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, blood banks, and university research facilities in New Jersey and Southern Pennsylvania.