Whatever side you take in the ongoing back-and-forth between hospital executives and nursing staffs, one central point is undeniable:
Washington’s nurses are unhappy enough with hospital working conditions that they’ve been leaving the profession in droves for the past few years. That, in turn, has cost hospitals dearly.
With hospitals hemorrhaging money, they’re closing and reducing services — particularly in relatively rural areas like ours.
And that’s putting everyone’s health at risk.
State lawmakers, then, deserve some credit for wading into the sea of bean-counting financial officers, frustrated workers and worried would-be patients in an effort to find solutions.
The best answer they’ve come up with so far is Senate Bill 5236, which attempts to ensure adequate staffing by requiring hospitals to follow individual plans that include some measure of nurse-to-patient standards.
It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
After weeks of negotiation, the bill finally has the support of the Washington State Hospital Association and the unions that represent the state’s nurses. An amended version of SB 5236 cleared the Senate Ways and Means Committee last week and is now headed for the Senate floor.
The sponsors’ original idea was to impose a statewide nurse-to-patient ratio, but the amended version of the bill leaves specific standards to existing nurse staffing committees in individual hospitals. It still has some teeth, though: Under the revised plan, hospital managers would be required to honor the committees’ decisions on standards or face interventions by the Department of Labor and Industries.
“We’ve said all along that in order for any staffing plans to be effective, they must be enforceable,” said Faye Guenther, president of UFCW 3000, whose 22,000 statewide members include health care workers at MultiCare Yakima Memorial. “Otherwise, hospital executives will continue burning out their workforce through unsustainable short-staffing.
The bill also addresses longtime concerns about overtime and meal breaks — among the many factors nurses cite as burnout causes.
In short, the state is putting some of its enforcement weight behind the nurses. Considering what we’ve been seeing at hospitals lately, that’s a reasonable step.
Whether it’s stress from the soul-grinding demands nurses faced during the pandemic or exasperation at management’s expectations, nurses are clearly at the end of their rope.
A recent poll by the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm GBAO found that 80% of the 1,148 Washington state health care workers who took part in the study were experiencing burnout. About half of those workers admitted they’re apt to leave the health care field in the next few years.
That might help explain why more than 6,100 nursing jobs remain vacant in our state — a shortage that has forced many hospitals, including MultiCare Yakima Memorial, to bring in expensive traveling nurses to help fill in.
Hospital executives have had a number of years to solve this quandary on their own, but they haven’t. Since they’re now struggling to succeed with their chosen profession — to care for the health of everyone we love — our elected officials are justified in stepping in to help.
Whether this is the best solution remains to be seen. But for the sake of our community’s health, waiting to let the issue solve itself is no longer an option.
