BILL REQ. #: H-0514.1
State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2013 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/16/13. Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.
AN ACT Relating to nursing staffing practices at hospitals; amending RCW 70.41.420; adding new sections to chapter 70.41 RCW; creating new sections; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that:
(1) Research demonstrates the critical role that registered nurses
play in improving patient safety and quality of care;
(2) Greater numbers of registered nurses available to care for
hospitalized patients are key to reducing errors, complications, and
adverse patient care events;
(3) Higher nurse staffing levels result in improved staff safety
and satisfaction and reduced incidences of workplace injuries;
(4) Health care professional, technical, and support staff comprise
vital components of the patient care team, bringing their particular
skills and services to ensuring quality patient care; and
(5) Assuring sufficient nurse staffing to meet patient care needs
is an urgent public policy priority in order to protect patients,
support greater retention of registered nurses and safer working
conditions, promote evidence-based nurse staffing, and increase
transparency of health care data and decision making.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 (1) By June 30, 2015, the department, with
stakeholder input, shall:
(a) Adopt patient assignment limits; and
(b) Recommend quality indicators in addition to those specified in
section 4 of this act.
(2) Patient assignment limits apply:
(a) To individual registered nurse assignments, and may not be
construed as establishing average assignments for a hospital or patient
care unit; and
(b) At all times that a registered nurse is on duty, including
times when other nurses are away from the unit, on a break, or
otherwise not providing patient care.
(3) The established patient assignment limits apply to all
hospitals in the state. These patient assignment limits represent the
maximum number of patients for which any registered nurse may be
assigned at any one time to provide care. This number includes
patients for whose care the registered nurse is responsible, but for
whom aspects of care have been delegated to other nursing personnel.
The department may establish different limits for different types of
patient care units or areas.
(4) Patient assignment limits serve as a minimum staffing standard.
However, compliance with these patient assignment limits alone is not
sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the requirements for
development and implementation of staffing plans under RCW 70.41.420.
Actual staffing levels on any hospital unit during any shift must be
determined by the staffing plan developed by the hospital nurse
staffing committee consistent with RCW 70.41.420.
(5) A registered nurse may not be assigned to a nursing unit or
clinical area unless the nurse has first received orientation in that
clinical area sufficient to provide competent care to patients in that
area and has demonstrated current competence in providing care in that
area.
(6) The written policies and procedures for orientation of nursing
staff must require that all temporary personnel receive orientation and
be subject to competency validation.
Sec. 3 RCW 70.41.420 and 2008 c 47 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) By September 1, 2008, each hospital shall establish a nurse
staffing committee, either by creating a new committee or assigning the
functions of a nurse staffing committee to an existing committee. At
least one-half of the members of the nurse staffing committee shall be
registered nurses currently providing direct patient care and up to
one-half of the members shall be determined by the hospital
administration. The selection of the registered nurses providing
direct patient care shall be according to the collective bargaining
agreement if there is one in effect at the hospital. If there is no
applicable collective bargaining agreement, the members of the nurse
staffing committee who are registered nurses providing direct patient
care shall be selected by their peers.
(2) Participation in the nurse staffing committee by a hospital
employee shall be on scheduled work time and compensated at the
appropriate rate of pay. Nurse staffing committee members shall be
relieved of all other work duties during meetings of the committee.
(3) Primary responsibilities of the nurse staffing committee shall
include:
(a) Development and oversight of an annual patient care unit and
shift-based nurse staffing plan, based on the needs of patients, to be
used as the primary component of the staffing budget. Factors to be
considered in the development of the plan should include, but are not
limited to:
(i) Census, including total numbers of patients on the unit on each
shift and activity such as patient discharges, admissions, and
transfers;
(ii) Level of intensity of all patients and nature of the care to
be delivered on each shift;
(iii) Skill mix;
(iv) Level of experience and specialty certification or training of
nursing personnel providing care;
(v) The need for specialized or intensive equipment;
(vi) The architecture and geography of the patient care unit,
including but not limited to placement of patient rooms, treatment
areas, nursing stations, medication preparation areas, and equipment;
and
(vii) Staffing guidelines adopted or published by national nursing
professional associations, specialty nursing organizations, and other
health professional organizations;
(b) Semiannual review of the staffing plan against patient need and
known evidence-based staffing information, including the nursing
sensitive quality indicators collected by the hospital;
(c) Review, assessment, and response to staffing concerns presented
to the committee;
(d) Availability of other personnel supporting nursing services on
the unit.
(4) In addition to the factors listed in subsection (3)(a) of this
section, hospital finances and resources may be taken into account in
the development of the nurse staffing plan.
(5) The staffing plan must not diminish other standards contained
in state or federal law and rules, or the terms of an applicable
collective bargaining agreement, if any, between the hospital and a
representative of the nursing staff.
(6) ((The committee will produce the hospital's annual nurse
staffing plan. If this staffing plan is not adopted by the hospital,
the chief executive officer shall provide a written explanation of the
reasons why to the committee.)) Beginning June 30, 2016, each hospital
shall submit the staffing plan to the department on at least an annual
basis.
(7) Beginning June 30, 2016, each hospital shall implement the
staffing plan and assign nursing personnel to each patient care unit in
accordance with the plan. Shift-to-shift adjustments in staffing
levels required by the plan may be made only if based upon assessment
by a registered nurse providing direct patient care on the patient care
unit, utilizing procedures specified by the staffing committee.
(8) Each hospital shall post, in a public area on each patient care
unit, the nurse staffing plan and the nurse staffing schedule for that
shift on that unit, as well as the relevant clinical staffing for that
shift. The staffing plan and current staffing levels must also be made
available to patients and visitors upon request.
(((8))) (9) A hospital may not retaliate against or engage in any
form of intimidation of:
(a) An employee for performing any duties or responsibilities in
connection with the nurse staffing committee; or
(b) An employee, patient, or other individual who notifies the
nurse staffing committee ((or)), the hospital administration, an agent
of the collective bargaining, or the department of his or her concerns
((on)) regarding nurse staffing that (i) violates the nurse staffing
plan or patient assignment limits or (ii) the employee, patient, or
other individual believes is otherwise insufficient or unsafe.
(((9))) (10) A hospital may not penalize any registered nurse for
refusing to accept an assignment that violates the hospital staffing
plan described in this section, or the restrictions described in
section 2(5) of this act, as long as the registered nurse first informs
the hospital in writing that he or she has concluded that, in his or
her professional judgment and nursing practice licensure standards,
accepting the assignment would place one or more patients at immediate
risk of serious harm or injury.
(11) This section is not intended to create unreasonable burdens on
critical access hospitals under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395i-4. Critical
access hospitals may develop flexible approaches to accomplish the
requirements of this section that may include but are not limited to
having nurse staffing committees work by telephone or electronic mail.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 A new section is added to chapter 70.41 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Hospitals shall regularly collect information regarding nurse
staffing and submit it to the department semiannually. This
information must include:
(a) Nursing staff skill mix, including registered nurses, licensed
practical nurses, and unlicensed assistive personnel;
(b) Nursing hours per patient day;
(c) Nurse voluntary turnover rate;
(d) Nurses supplied by temporary staffing agencies including
traveling nurses;
(e) Death among surgical inpatients with treatable serious
complications, such as failure to rescue;
(f) Rates of patient falls with injury;
(g) Physical restraint prevalence;
(h) Catheter-associated urinary tract infection rate;
(i) Central line-associated blood stream infection rate;
(j) Psychiatric patient assault rate;
(k) Pressure ulcers including community-acquired and hospital-acquired; and
(l) Other measures to be established by the department.
(2) In adopting rules under this section, the department shall
determine effective means for making the information identified in
subsection (1) of this section readily available to the public,
including posting it in public areas of the hospital and making it
available through the internet.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 A new section is added to chapter 70.41 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Upon receipt of a complaint, the department shall conduct an
audit of a hospital's compliance with sections 2 and 4 through 6 of
this act and RCW 70.41.420 and shall investigate complaints of
violations of sections 2 and 4 of this act and RCW 70.41.420.
(2) Where a hospital is found to be out of compliance with the
requirements of sections 2 and 4 through 6 of this act and RCW
70.41.420, the department shall at a minimum require the hospital to
submit a corrective plan of action. In the event that a hospital fails
to submit or submits but fails to follow such a corrective plan of
action, the department may impose a civil penalty of ten thousand
dollars.
(3) In addition, in the event that a hospital is found to have
committed a knowing violation or repeated violations of the
requirements of sections 2 and 4 through 6 of this act and RCW
70.41.420, the department may take either or both of the following
actions:
(a) Suspend or revoke the license of a hospital; or
(b) Impose civil penalties as follows:
(i) Two thousand five hundred dollars for a first knowing violation
of the requirements of sections 2 and 4 through 6 of this act and RCW
70.41.420;
(ii) Five thousand dollars for the second violation of the
requirements of sections 2 and 4 through 6 of this act and RCW
70.41.420 within a six-month period; and
(iii) Ten thousand dollars for the third and each subsequent
violation of the requirements of sections 2 and 4 through 6 of this act
and RCW 70.41.420 within a six-month period.
(4) The department shall maintain for public inspection records of
any civil penalties, administrative actions, or license suspensions or
revocations imposed on hospitals under this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 A new section is added to chapter 70.41 RCW
to read as follows:
The department shall adopt rules as necessary to implement sections
2, 4, and 5 of this act and RCW 70.41.420.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 This act may be known and cited as the
Washington state patient safety act.