Introduced
by
To require hospitals to maintain staff-to-patient ratios, including, at a minimum: one nurse for each patient in an operating room or trauma emergency unit; one nurse for every two patients in critical care units, including labor and delivery or postanesthesia units; one nurse for every three patients in antepartum, emergency room, pediatrics, step-down, or telemetry units; one nurse for every four patients in intermediate care nursery, medical, surgical, or acute care psychiatric units; one nurse for every five patients in rehabilitation units; and one nurse for every six patients in postpartum or well-baby nursery units. The Department of Community Health would be required to enforce these ratios, and to impose more stringent ones depending on the level of acute care generally required in a particular hospital or unit.
Referred to the Committee on Health Policy
