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UNA Says IOM "Got It Right": Nurse Staffing Equals Patient Safety

UNA and AFSCME leaders have nothing but praise for the follow-up report on patient injuries and deaths by the Institute of Medicine. "They got it exactly right," says Kathy Sackman, RN, UNA co-chair and AFSCME International vice president. "They've nailed nurse working conditions as a central problem."

When the IOM "To Err is Human" study rocked America on its release in 2000, "we were sure it would lead straight to the nurse staffing issue," points out Bonnie Marpoe, LPN, UNA co-chair. "Now it has."

Since the study was released, UNA has been publicizing its findings, and using them both at the bargaining table and in lobbying to press for nurse-staffing levels that ensure patient safety.

In coalition with six partner unions, we prevailed on Kaiser-Permanente to take the lead among hospital systems. We fought for and won a staffing ratio law in California. And we led the other AFL-CIO unions into a coalition demanding a national safe staffing law.

The IOM Recommendations, summarized on the next page, go very far. They would wipe out 16-hour days and many other common abuses.

IOM reports carry the prestige and authority of a national research institution. The IOM, chartered in 1970 as a component of the National Academy of Sciences, works outside the framework of government to ensure scientifically informed analysis and independent guidance. Its mission is to serve as an unbiased adviser to the nation on a wide range of health matters.

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