Body
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania face a severe shortage of registered nurses and other health care employees willing to work in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care institutions under current working conditions; and
WHEREAS, nurses and other health care employees in Pennsylvania are being stretched to the limit, with the average nurse in Pennsylvania working 8.5 weeks of overtime per year; and
WHEREAS, 1 in 4 Pennsylvania RNs have already left the health care field, the highest dropout rate in the nation. Unless effective counter measures are taken, this health care workforce crisis is projected to worsen in the near future as the Baby Boomer generation retires; and
WHEREAS, a recent report issued by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee of the Pennsylvania General Assembly found that nursing shortages are contributing to emergency room overcrowding, the diversion of emergency patients, a reduced number of staffed beds in hospitals, discontinuation of programs and services, and cancellation of elective surgeries; and
WHEREAS, the Institute of Medicine has estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors, and the IOM has identified excessive work hours as a contributing factor to the commission of errors by nurses; and
WHEREAS, poor working conditions including mandatory overtime are a major reason that the average staff turnover rate in Pennsylvania nursing homes is an astounding 50.4%, undermining the quality of care for our seniors and costing taxpayers over $21 million dollars each year in unnecessary recruitment and training costs; and
WHEREAS, May 6 through May 12, 2004 has been designated as National Nurses Week to recognize the contributions of and focus attention on the needs of the frontline caregivers who provide vital health care services to the sick and aged of our communities.
title
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of...
Click here for full text