Nurses are opposed to government-mandated ratios. They see the rigid ratios as an infringement on their autonomy to use their own judgement, along with that of their peers on a unit, to determine what is best for patients under their collective care.

That’s the clear theme of a new advertisement that began airing on Massachusetts television stations last week.  View the ad here.

“The government does not know what it takes to care for a patient. We’re the ones that do,” said Amanda Ford, a Registered Nurse at Lowell General Hospital who is featured in the ads. “This ballot measure would be disastrous.”

This measure would cost the Massachusetts healthcare system more than $1.3 billion dollars in the first year, and more than $900 million each year thereafter, according to an independent study by MassInsight and BW Research Partners. Hospitals will be forced to cut vital health programs, such as cancer screenings, opioid treatments, mental health services, early childhood intervention, domestic violence programs and pre- or post-natal care.

“There are no scientific studies or reports that demonstrate the effectiveness of government mandated, one-size-fits-all nurse staffing ratio for improving quality of care, patient outcomes, or professional nursing practice," said Donna Glynn, president of the American Nurses Association Massachusetts and a Nurse Scientist for the VA Boston Healthcare System. “In fact, no studies evaluating nurse staffing ratios reported a magic number as the single factor to affect patient outcomes or job satisfaction. This ballot question is ignoring scientific fact around what is best for nursing practice, decision making and quality patient care.”

The big news from last week’s Patient Safety Congress held in Boston was the announcement that a National Steering Committee for Patient Safety will create a coordinated national action plan to prevent healthcare harm.

The national steering committee is co-chaired by Jeff Brady, M.D., director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Tejal Gandhi, M.D., chief clinical and safety officer for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). The merged IHI and National Patient Safety Foundation are the sponsors of the annual Patient Safety Congress.

The National Action Plan is meant to coordinate the efforts that are now underway from literally dozens of healthcare-related groups, ranging from AARP, to the American Hospital Association, Joint Commission, and American Nurses Association.

“For decades, experts have called for increased coordination to improve patient safety, but such a strategy has not been fully instituted,” Gandhi said. “There is still so much work to be done in patient safety, in part because we’ve reached the limits of what a ‘project-by-project’ approach can achieve. Instead of declaring ‘mission accomplished,’ we need to take steps to advance total systems safety—safety that is systematic and uniformly applied across the health system.”

MHA has taken on a similar project within the commonwealth. The MHA Statewide Quality Forum is devising and implementing a statewide educational strategy for alleviating violence in the healthcare workplace.

Baystate Franklin Medical Center announced last Wednesday that it had agreed to a new five-year contract with its nurses who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The RNs will be presented with the contract for ratification within a week.

The previous contract had expired in December 2016 and the two sides had been in contentious negotiations since then.

“Baystate Franklin is committed to staffing models that maintain our flexibility to address individual patient care needs in a sustainable way,” the hospital said in a statement. “Our most recent contract discussions with the MNA were able to reach consensus on an approach that positively supports the healthcare needs of our community. ... With the conclusion of this process, the entire Baystate Franklin team is looking forward to advancing a culture that is strong, unified, and dedicated to providing our community with high-quality healthcare.”

Today the nation remembers the men and women who have died while serving in the military. There are points in history where communities gathered to remember the war dead, but many trace the birth of the modern Memorial Day to 1868 when General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued an order establishing Decoration Day. Part of that order reads:

“Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.”

Nearly 1.2 million male and female active duty military personnel have lost their lives from the Revolutionary War to today’s Global War on Terror conflicts around the world.  In 2018, there have been 42 active duty military deaths, 13 of which occurred in combat zones.

In 2018, 31 people have been killed in U.S. schools; 26 were children.