Impact of Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety & Quality Act

This essay discusses the federal bill of Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act introduced in 2017, focusing on nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals. It highlights the bill's requirement for hospitals to submit staffing plans to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including specific nurse-to-patient ratios and guidelines for increasing staffing. The essay emphasizes the importance of adjusting Medicare payments to cover additional costs and supports the rights of nurses to refuse assignments they are not qualified for or that compromise patient safety. It also underscores the need for HHS to monitor hospitals and penalize those violating the bill's requirements, while advocating for preceptorship and mentorship programs for new nurses. The author believes this bill protects and preserves the rights of nurses, ultimately improving patient care.

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Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing in reference to the federal bill of Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and
Quality Care Act that was introduced on 115th Congress session in 2017.Through this letter, I
intend to express my views regarding the issues regarding the nurse-to-patient ratio units in the
Hospital. The Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Act of 2017
explains the requirement of adequate nurses in critical conditions for upgrading the quality of
hospitality provided to the patients so that the hospital can attract and retain responsible and
caring nurses (Brown, 2017). According to the bill, each and every hospital need to submit a
staffing plan to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).The plan should include a
clear explanation of the specific ratios of nurses and patients in each and every unit of the
hospital. The plan must also include the guidelines to increase hospital staffing as required by the

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nurses and the patients. The hospital must maintain a valid record of the numbers of patients and
nurses for each shift in each unit. It is very important for the Department of Health and Human
Services to adjust the payments for Medicare for covering the additional costs of the Medicare
beneficiaries, as recommended by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). The
bill highlights the fact that it is the duty of the nurses to provide care to the patients. The bill also
states that a nurse has the full right of refusing to participate in any assignment if they do not feel
confident enough about their education and experience level that s required to perform the
assignment. The nurses have the right to reject any work that questions a patient safety and
challenges their license. In this letter, I would like to bring you to notice that the hospitals may
not take any action against the nurses due to their refusal to work on any assignments.
Furthermore, the hospitals may not discriminate individuals on the ground of faith complaints
relating to services or care or hospital-related facilities. I feel that the rights of the nurses
working in the hospitals that needed to be recognized, protected and preserved throughout these
years have finally been done by the S.1063 bill of 115th Congress. The bill further introduced
new programs like preceptorship and mentorship programs for the new joinee nurses and the
trainee nurses so that they can learn and gain practical experiences which will be beneficial for
them while adapting to the hospital settings and work process.
On the above context, I feel and I would like to highlight that the Department of Health and
Human Services must keep track of the hospitals of the state and publish the penalized hospitals
on the grounds of violating the bill requirements.
Sincerely,
Name of the Student

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Title
Address of the Student
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References
Brown, S. (2017). S.1063 - Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality
Care Act of 2017. Senate: CONGRESS.GOV.
Dabney, B. W., & Kalisch, B. J. (2015). Nurse staffing levels and patient-reported missed
nursing care. Journal of nursing care quality, 30(4), 306-312.
Dellefield, M. E., Castle, N. G., McGilton, K. S., & Spilsbury, K. (2015). The relationship
between registered nurses and nursing home quality: An integrative review (2008-2014).
Nursing Economics, 33(2), 95.
Griffiths, P., Ball, J., Drennan, J., Dall’Ora, C., Jones, J., Maruotti, A., ... & Simon, M. (2016).
Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: strengths and limitations of the evidence to inform
policy and practice. A review and discussion paper based on evidence reviewed for the
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Safe Staffing guideline
development. International journal of nursing studies, 63, 213-225.