I, Jane Doe, a registered nurse, respectfully write to request that you look into the growing issue of nurse shortages in California. As a registered nurse, I have seen firsthand the effects of a nurse shortage on health care delivery in California. We are overworked, burned out, and worried, making it impossible to deliver the best possible care to our patients at our hospitals. The registered nurses play a crucial role in the healthcare delivery, not only in California but the United States in general. Sadly, the U.S. Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast in 2012 showed that over the next decade, the demand would outpace the supply (Yoo et al. 2017). The failing grade in the California is alarming. As it stands, California nurse-to-population ratio stands at 48th nationwide for the past ten years (Yoo et al. 2017).
The reduced nursing staffing leads to increased overtime, fatigue, and the reduction of patient's length of stay and care (Cox, Willis, and Coustasse, 2014). Under such conditions, the nurses are unable to provide sufficient care to patients. Also, patients get infections, get injured, and sometimes are sent home too soon without the adequate knowledge of taking care of their ailments or injuries (Cox, Willis, and Coustasse, 2014). They soon return to hospitals, sicker than before, and in more severe conditions than before.
Even though the California RN Staffing Ratio Law came into effect to support regulating the hospital staffing, stiffer rules need to be placed to ensure that hospitals abide by the law. To counter the change in demand for RN's could lead to shortages or surplus, stiffer penalties should be introduced to reduce the ratio of nurses-to-patients (Cox, Willis, and Coustasse, 2014). Moreover, the state could monitor nursing enrolments and maybe absorb graduates to the workforce, thereby reducing the problems resulting from the nursing shortages.
I appreciate Your help on the issue and would appreciate it if you could provide a response to let me know if You can pass a Bill that would lead hospitals to increase the number of nurses, and subsequently reduce the nurse-to-patient ratio.
Thank you for taking your time and your consideration to this request.
Sincerely,
Jane Doe,
Registered Nurse.
Reference
Cox, P., Willis, W. K., & Coustasse, A. (2014). The American epidemic: The US nursing shortage and turnover problem.
Yoo, B. K., Kim, M., Sasaki, T., Ward, D., & Spetz, J. (2017). The impact of economic recession on registered nurse workforce supply in California. Nursing Economics, 35(1), 21.
