State health officials would get a more consistent and detailed look at nurse staffing levels at Connecticut hospitals, under a bill that has now passed the state Senate and House.
House legislators voted Wednesday 83-59 in favor SB 855, which requires hospitals to report their prospective nurse staffing levels each year to the Department of Public Health.
Currently, hospitals are required to provide staffing information to DPH upon request. But the bill would expand the type of required information to include the ratio of patients to nursing staff and any difference between the prospective staffing level and the actual staffing level.
Hospitals testified against the bill, arguing that it would add more administrative burdens; hospitals said they already assess staffing on a daily and hour-to-hour basis. DPH Commissioner Dr. Jewell Mullen also testified that staffing is better assessed during onsite visits, rather than through reports.
The original bill called for DPH to assess the adequacy of nurse staffing, to which Mullen objected. The Senate removed that provision earlier this month.
The Connecticut Nurses Association and other healthcare employee unions support the bill, arguing that the frequency of adverse events and mistakes is increasing in Connecticut hospitals and pointing to studies that show a link between nurse staffing shortages and negative health outcomes.
