Letter to the Editor

Pasadena Star News

911 E. Colorado Blvd.

Pasadena, CA 91106

Dear Editor:

As an RN, I was ardently opposed to the cookie-cutter nurse-patient ration pushed for by nursing unions that was later signed into law. Instead, I was one of the many nursing professionals that supported an acuity-based system, which allowed a nurse’s skill sets to be matched with the disease matrix of the patient. Why, because patients aren’t widgets and nurses aren’t factory line workers.

In regards to often-touted 2010 research project designed and published by Dr. Aiken, few have identified the flaw in her study. This flaw was her choice to compare a set of California hospitals with a set of hospitals from the East Coast – in short comparing apples to oranges. A better-structured study would’ve been to select a set of California hospital five-years before and those same California hospitals five-years after the nurse-patient ratio was in effect.

Nursing unions shouldn’t oppose the waivers that are allowing hospitals to be flexible during this COVID-19 pandemic. These waivers are allowing hospitals to remain open and compliant with state laws. However, what these same unions could and should be doing is serving as watchdogs to ensure that those hospitals applying for and receiving said waivers comply with all laws and that as the crisis abates that the hospitals withdraw their waivers and return to the state mandated nurse-patient ratio laws. These actions are productive whereas their current actions are not!