Rep. Page's Legislation To Help Nurses Stay In The Profession Comes The Day After House Members Rejected Funding To Educate More Healthcare Workers
"Nurses are six times more likely to suffer work-related back injury than construction workers," Page said. "They miss far too many days of work because of injury and far too many of them are leaving the profession because of injury. Our patients are loosing access to our most experienced nurses."
Page said 12 percent of nurses who leave the profession, leave because of back pain resulting from moving or repositioning patients.
The legislation would provide tax credits to healthcare facilities that purchase mechanical lift equipment, which nurses use to move patients or hold limbs in the proper positions for some procedures. It would also require those facilities to implement a Safe Patient Handling Program to ensure the equipment gets used.
Patty Cyr, a member of the SEIU Nurse Alliance of Missouri, first brought the idea of the legislation to Rep. Page. She has been working for four years to get the equipment in more Missouri hospitals.
During her testimony before the committee, she told the story of a 26-year-old nurse named Amanda who herniated two disks in her lower back while trying to move a patient weighing more than 400 pounds. She was forced to end her career as a bedside nurse and undergo a series of painful surgeries.
"I would like to tell you that a patient who weighs more than 400 pounds is an unusual occurrence; however, that is no longer true," Cyr said. "Amanda loved being at the bedside and she was well-like by her patients and co-workers."
Cyr went on to say that when Safe Patient Handling Programs were implemented, healthcare facilities saw injuries and worker's compensations cost reduced by 60 to 90 percent. She also said lost work days decreased by as much as 100 percent at some facilities involved in the case studies.
Also testifying in favor of the legislation were Dana Ming, a workers compensation coordinator for a healthcare facility, and Susan Nye, the National Representation Coordinator for the SEIU Nurse Alliance.
"This legislation is critical to stemming the exodus from bedside nursing," Nye said.
She added that 18 states already have laws requiring Safe Patient Handling Programs.
Luana Gifford, a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO, and Kyna Iman, a lobbyist for the Missouri Nurses Association also spoke in favor of the bill.
The hearing came a day after the Missouri House of Represetatives voted 102-50 against a budget amendment that would have provided universities more funding for the recruitment and education of healthcare workers. The "Preparing to Care" program would have given $13 million to the state's two- and four-year universities.
"If we're not going to try to bring more healthcare workers into the work force, we're going to have to do more to keep the workers we already have," Page said. "The defeat of Preparing to Care makes the Safe Patient Handling Program all the more necessary."
State Representative Sam Page
Rep al paginii de legislaþie, pentru a ajuta asistente medicale ºedere în profesie vine a doua zi dupã ce casa membri respins de finanþare pentru a educa mai multe servicii de îngrijire medicalã a lucrãtorilor - Rep. Page's Legislation To Help Nurses Stay In The Profession Comes The Day After House Members Rejected Funding To Educate More Healthcare Workers - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate