Texas Nurses Rally For Safe Staffing, Fair Pay, and an End of Violence Against Healthcare Workers

May 12, 2022 at 10 AM

On May 12, 2022 at 10 AM, Texas Nurses will be rallying on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol in solidarity with the Nurses March on Washington D.C.

AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, May 3, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — On May 12, 2022 nurses across the nation are marching upon our states’ and nation’s capitols in a united effort to bring about permanent change to healthcare safety and quality. Nurses everywhere are taking a stand on three key issues which current practices (or lack thereof) endanger the profession, our healthcare system, and our patients at every level of care. In solidarity with the national march, Texas Nurses will likewise be gathering 10:00 on May 12, on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol, to respectfully demand that: these issues be addressed by our state and nation’s leadership; and that corrective action be taken in the form of official legislation regarding: 1) Mandatory safe staffing requirements and nurse to patient ratios; 2) definition, prevention, and punitive action of/for violence against healthcare workers, and 3) establishment of reasonable, fair, and equitable compensation that is commensurate with the nurse’s scope of practice and level of responsibility – instead of an absorbable fixed cost.

There is an extreme disconnect between persistent “solutions” offered by hospital organizations and their lobbies, and the root causes of the nation’s nurse staffing crisis. Staffing is a long-standing and too common problem in patient care that predates the coronavirus pandemic. Nurses have always been called upon to do more with less, for wages minimally commensurate with the scope of their duty description, in working conditions that are often unsafe for nurses and patients alike. Healthcare systems and their lobbies have long argued the existence of a “nursing shortage” and budget constraints as rationales for these deficiencies. Historically nurses simply “stepped up to the plate”, making do with less and to their detriment.

Unfortunately, the global pandemic highlighted and exacerbated how detrimental staffing issues are to quality care and patient outcomes. COVID19 unsustainably stressed the healthcare system and its providers to the max. Nurses are now expected to care for an untold amount of high acuity patients in ratios that are unsafe in practice, for more shifts/longer hours, resulting in diminished quality of care and patient outcomes, as well as increased moral burnout for professionals. Consequently, nurses are leaving their jobs to travel or exiting the profession entirely. Indeed, the American Nurses Association (ANA) estimates we stand to lose as many as 500,000 professional nurses by the end of 2022, resulting in over one million vacancies in the field. Despite this stark reality, our nation’s leadership in healthcare and government choose to ignore causative factors contributing to the “nursing shortage”.

There are currently four million American nurses in this country – with a forecasted 7% growth rate of the profession by 2029. We do not lack for professionals willing to work at the bedside. What we lack now is a ready pool of professionals still willing to accept the exploitative historic and standard practices of “doing more with less”, with increased risk to self and patients, for minimally commensurate pay. Current travel agency rates are merely a symptom of the national healthcare system’s failure to address problems nurses have objected to for decades: adequate and safe staffing requirements, fair and equitable pay, and safe working environments. In answer to these concerns, federal, state, and healthcare officials suggest we encourage further mass exodus from the profession by capping travel nursing rates – without addressing the core issues causing nurses to leave their staff jobs in the first place. This is to the detriment of our patients, who assume up to a 7% increase in risk for physical harm, debility, or even death with each unsafe patient assignment for whom their nurse must also provide care. Addressing and mitigating these key issues will minimize the current staffing crisis, enhance workplace safety standards, and improve staff retention, while ensuring the most important goal in healthcare: provision of safe, quality, evidence based and compassionate care to our patients. Please visit, https://nationalnursesmarch.org/, for more ways to get involved with this national movement.

Michelle Baker
Texas Nurses March to the Capitol
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