Data from Becker’s Hospital Review show that compared to other states Maryland is:
46th in staffed beds
36th in nurses per 1,000 population
45th in nurses’ salaries (adjusted for cost of living)
“Nurses are burning out because of the mental and physical stress we are faced with.”
The Safe Staffing Act establishes hospital safe staffing committees at each hospital that will help drive solutions to staffing and safety issues. No one staffing model is appropriate for all care settings or situations. Our patients’ needs change continually, and this legislation allows hospitals to create staffing plans based on their unique needs. Quality care requires flexible staffing plans driven by direct care workers
The Problem
Maryland hospitals face the most critical staffing shortage in recent history due to high staff turnover, shifting care delivery models, and poor working conditions for low pay.
The Maryland Healthcare Workforce report stated that 1 in 4 nursing positions are vacant.
One of the key drivers of high turnover for healthcare workers is the burnout or chronic stress caused by patient overload. According to a Journal of the American Medical Association study, each additional patient over four per nurse carries a 23% percent risk of increased “burnout” and a 15% percent decrease in job satisfaction. The same study found that each additional patient per nurse was associated with a 7% increase in the likelihood of patient death within 30 days of admission.
Over the last 20 years, more than 100 studies by academic researchers have produced evidence confirming the link between inadequate hospital nurse-to-patient staffing levels and poor patient outcomes up to and including unnecessary death.
According to the Health Services Cost Review Commission, patients are waiting up to 20 hours to receive care at the emergency room, making Maryland the state with the longest ER wait times in the country.
The Solution
The Safe Staffing Act requires Maryland hospitals to create staffing committees comprising 50% direct care workers that represent the entire care team.
Maryland’s unique Total Cost of Care model ensures we are connecting quality of care and adequate staffing with the implementation of this legislation.
Creating safe staffing conditions is an effective way to retain experienced nurses, lure those who left the field back, and attract students to the profession.
Safe staffing practices can be cost-effective for hospitals. High turnover rates and the overreliance on temporary nurse staffing increase the average cost per discharge and overall operating costs.
States like Oregon show that enhancing nurse and worker engagement in the committee and increasing transparency in decision-making can have a positive impact on nurse turnover and improve patient outcomes.1
A look at strategies to address staffing nationally: Nine states (CT, CO, IL, NV, NY, OH, OR, TX, WA) require hospitals to have nurse staffing committees.
“When my 75 year old husband was seriously ill with COVID, I observed two nurses at my local hospital being overwhelmed with about 35 ER patients. ... It became clear to me that an understaffed ER was more dangerous than taking him home.”