Patients’ needs in hands of nursing bosses

Shaunta Grimes

Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999 | 11:16 a.m.

Nurses who manage staffing at health care facilities can be held responsible if a decision to put too few nurses on a shift puts a patient in danger, an advisory committee of the State Nursing Board said Wednesday.

The committee reviewed state laws and national staffing guidelines in response to a request by the Service Employees International Union, which has complained that staffing in local hospitals and other facilities has gotten dangerously low.

The union was concerned that individual nurses may be disciplined if their patients do not receive proper care because of inadequate staffing -- a decision they have no control over, Kathy Apple, executive director of the state board and advisory board chair, said.

The Nursing Board's advisory committee found that laws already exist under which they can hold managing nurses responsible for their staffing decision, she said.

The State Board of Health, for example, requires nurse staffing to be determined by the seriousness of the patients' condition. It is not enough for a manager to schedule, for example, one nurse for every two patients. More critically ill patients may need a nurse to themselves. Less ill patients may not need as much attention.

If a complaint is made against a managing nurse, the Nursing Board and the Board of Health would work together to determine if a law has been broken, the committee found.

The Nursing Board licenses and disciplines Nevada nurses, Apple said. The Board of Health regulates staffing at hospitals and other health care facilities.

"It is unprofessional conduct when you fail to abide by any state or federal statute or regulation relating to the practice of nursing," Apple said. So, if a nurse is found by the Board of Health to be in violation of a law regarding the practice of staffing, the Board of Nursing has the grounds to discipline.

The study did not reveal any new information, Apple said.