Lawmakers debate nurse staffing bill

Nevada lawmakers were told Wednesday that a bill calling for nurse-to-patient ratios is needed to ensure safety of hospital patients.

"The question is, how many nurses are enough," Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto said during an Assembly Health and Human Services Committee hearing on her AB121. "If you don't have enough nurses that are able to spend enough time with patients, we have problems."

Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, added that there are at least nine states currently considering legislation to set nurse-to-patient ratios.

Her bill originally intended to set a specific nurse-to-patient ratio, but Koivisto proposed an amendment that would allow committees, made up of nurses and hospital administrative staff, to set the ratios for their hospitals.

Advocates for the measure said that patient safety is a top concern for nurses, and that when nurses have too many patients, those patients are at risk of dying.

Opponents said that staffing ratios create logistical challenges for hospitals because nurses cannot take a break, and that leads to tension between nurses and managers.

Follow Assembly Bill AB121 online at www.leg.state.nv.us/