By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press
ALBANY (AP) - When the emergency room fills up - whether it’s a big accident, flu season or a stroke of misfortune - Brooklyn nurse Rose Green says she can find herself sprinting from room to room, trying to keep ahead of the whims of calamity.
She and other nurses from around New York state are urging state lawmakers to pass legislation that would set minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes, a rule that they said would improve patient outcomes by addressing a chronic staffing problem.
“There are times when you wind up with 16, 17 patients,” she said. “You cannot provide appropriate care to that many people.”
California already has such a law, and the proposal has been debated in New York for years. This year it has bipartisan support in the Legislature. Nurses will gather in Albany on Tuesday to push for the bill.
