Arizona Nurses Rally at Capitol for Patient Safety - Thursday 2-14-08

[Omaha Steve]

Contact: Liz Jacobs, RN, [phone] or David Glenn, [phone], both for National Nurses Organizing Committee

PHOENIX, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Registered nurses from throughout Arizona will hold a major rally this Thursday, February 14 in a bid to improve the state's healthcare by passing a key patient safety bill. After the rally, they will form "Heart Teams" and lobby legislators to pass HB 2041, legislation that would make Arizona hospitals safer by guaranteeing safe nurse-to-patient ratios, protecting the right of nurses to act as whistle-blowers against unsafe conditions, and offering legal recognition of the professional and moral obligations of RNs to act as patient advocates, solely in the interests of their patients.

The RNs, members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, will be joined at their rally by Rep. Tom Prezelski, the sponsor of the legislation, as well as other legislative cosponsors and Rebekah Friend, the executive director of the Arizona AFL-CIO. The nurse "Heart Teams" will tell legislators: "Don't break our hearts on Valentine's Day."

RNs Rally for Patient Safety
DATE: Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008
TIME: 12 Noon Rally
PLACE: State Capitol Front Plaza Complex -- 17th Avenue b/w Adams &
Jefferson


Nurses across the state worked to introduce the bill amid increasing alarm about the erosion of care conditions in Arizona hospitals -- conditions that put patients at risk and worsen the nursing shortage as many RNs refuse to work in unsafe hospitals.

Among its major provisions, the Act:

-- Mandates minimum, specific RN-to-patient staffing ratios which are
widely seen by nurses and health care experts to be the most effective
standard for safer nursing care and for promoting the retention and
recruitment of RNs.

-- Whistle-blower protection for RNs who report unsafe hospital conditions
or for refusing unsafe patient care assignments.

-- Legal recognition of the right of RNs to act as advocates for their
patients rather than for the economic interests of their hospital
employer.


FULL story at link.