Tell your members of Congress: Support safe staffing for RNs!

We need your help to improve working conditions for nurses and protect patients from preventable harm. Take action by signing our petition today.

Make your voice heard

Across the country, RNs are routinely required to care for far more patients than is safe, putting the quality of patient care at risk and negatively impacting patient outcomes. Studies have shown that understaffing of registered nurses leads to preventable patient injuries, illness, and death.

Currently, there is no federal mandate that regulates the number of patients a registered nurse can care for at one time. The legislation introduced by Rep. Schakowsky and Sen. Brown would implement mandatory minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, modeled after the highly successful law that has been in place in California hospitals since 2004. Nurse-to-patient ratios in California have saved thousands of lives, improved the quality of patient care, and kept experienced RNs at the bedside. Indeed, registered nurses flock to California because of the much-improved health and safety for both them and their patients. These ratios should be in place nationwide.

The Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act (S. 1113/H.R. 2530) would set safety limits on the number of patients each nurse can care for in hospitals across the country. Assigning more patients per nurse has been linked to higher risk of medical errors, complications, and readmissions, as well as higher death rates. And for nurses, it can often contribute to burnout and injuries on the job.

We urge Congress to pass this legislation, protecting nurses and patients and putting an end to the unsafe staffing crisis.

Sign the Petition

We are excited to announce the introduction of a federal bill in Congress, the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act (S. 1113/H.R. 2530). The bill would set specific safety limits on the numbers of patients each registered nurse can care for in hospitals throughout the United States — and it's important that we generate as much support as we can from our lawmakers now.

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