North Memorial Nurse Pushes Legislation to Help Address Nursing Shortage
A Robbinsdale nurse is behind an effort to address the state’s nurse shortage.
Mary turner, an ICU nurse at North Memorial Health Hospital, joined lawmakers on Monday to speak about the ‘Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act.’ The bill includes provisions to address under-staffing and retention in Minnesota hospitals.
It would require hospitals to establish committees — which would include direct care workers and management — to set safe staffing levels, including a maximum limit on the number of patients that any one nurse should safely care for.
Senator Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, is one of the sponsors of the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act.
Hospitals would also be required to mandate workplace violence prevention plans and training for all healthcare workers in hospitals.
And, the legislation would provide an annual appropriation of $10 million for mental health grants for healthcare workers. To help retain nurses at the bedside, the bill would also allocate $5 million to launch a new student loan forgiveness program for nurses working at the bedside in Minnesota hospitals.
“If we can’t keep nurses at the bedside in Minnesota, that is a patient care crisis. That is a public health crisis,” said Turner, who also serves as the president of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “Adverse events in our hospitals went up 33 percent last year for patients. We cannot wait any longer. With half of all nurses ready to leave the bedside, we need action now.”
The bill was referred to the senate’s health and human services committee.
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