Click to Read the Bill
Senator Maria Collett, RN – Prime Sponsor, Senate
PA State Rep. Tom Mehaffie – Prime Sponsor, House
PA State Rep. K.C. Tomlinson – Prime Sponsor, House
Take Action
Raise your voice for safe, quality care.
We’ve made it easy for you to contact your lawmakers and urge them to support the Patient Safety Act (HB 106) (SB 240).
Nurses and Patients Deserve Better
Understaffing is not a new problem; however, following the pandemic, the consequences are undeniable. When nurses are assigned too many patients, more patients die. It leads to injuries, burnout, and nurses leaving the bedside.
It’s Time for Nurses to Take the Lead
Nursing organizations have spent years pushing for safe staffing legislation. Yet our representatives have failed to act. The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, Nurses of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania are coming together in an unprecedented collaboration to advocate for our patients and our profession to pass this essential legislation. We know it will save lives. We know it can work.
What We’re Doing About It
Pennsylvania needs legislation to ensure patient safety and nurse retention in our hospitals. The Patient Safety Act does exactly that. The measure will limit the number of patients a nurse can be assigned, depending on the level of care required. The limits will be set by nurses, which ensures a minimum standard of care that every Pennsylvanian deserves. This legislation is supported by PSNA, SEIU, PASNAP, and Nurses of PA.
Safe Staffing Means Safe Patients
- Every additional patient a nurse cares for increases your chance of death and medication errors.
- Safe staffing in hospitals can reduce nurse burnout by 30% and infections by over 6,000 per year.
- Safe staffing results in significantly decreased hospital re-admissions, resulting in financial savings for our hospitals.
- States with safe staffing measures saw reductions in the number of nurses’ occupational injuries.
- Savings could play an important role in paying for extra nursing staff.
- Lower patient-to-nurse staffing ratios have been associated with significantly lower rates of: cardiac arrest; hospital acquired pneumonia; respiratory failure; patient falls; and pressure ulcers.
Contact PSNA: Tom Dougherty, Government Affairs Specialist ([email protected])
The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association Political Action Committee, PSNA-PAC, is a non-partisan organization, funded by members donations through which PSNA-PAC can contribute to pro-nursing candidates for Pennsylvania State House and State Senate. We contribute to candidates whom have demonstrated to PSNA their ability to defend and further your profession. We only use individual donations and do not use membership dues. PSNA-PAC is your voice in Harrisburg.