Posted on 03/03/2005 5:59:33 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suffered a major potential setback Thursday when a judge tentatively ruled that he illegally blocked a law boosting the number of nurses needed to staff California's hospitals.
Sacramento County Judge Judy Holzer Hersher ruled tentatively in favor of a preliminary injunction to lift emergency state regulations that stopped the law from taking effect Jan. 1.
Hersher's ruling represents a possible victory for the 60,000-member California Nurses Association, which has protested the governor's decision in numerous public settings for months. The union nurses have marched on the Capitol, flown message-trailing planes over the governor's home and picketed his speeches and public events. In turn, Schwarzenegger said during a recent women's day event that he was "kicking their butts."
Thursday's court decision sets the stage for a 10 a.m. hearing Friday in Sacramento Superior Court where lawyers for the governor and California Nurses Association will conduct oral arguments regarding the ruling.
A CNA spokesman, Chuck Idelson called it "a sweeping tentative order that strikes at the heart of all the arguments the governor has made."
The governor's office didn't have immediate comment.
In November, Schwarzenegger issued an emergency order delaying until 2008 the requirements for one nurse for each five patients in hospital medical and surgical units. Schwarzenegger sided with hospitals which have long argued that the new rules would be impossible to implement amid a statewide nursing shortage and would put many hospitals out of business.
The new law was to replace current regulations requiring one nurse for each six patients in medical and surgical units.
What part of "Tentatively" do you not understand?
Swell. Let's drive up healthcare prices up even higher, for no real improvement in quality or safety.
Again, the CNA and other special interests demonstrate that they are the ones really running the state, not the electorate.
"one nurse for each five patients"
Good grief, the last job I had I carried on less than 9 patients and no more than 20. 20 patients was a very bad day. The most I got done was medications, and barely my initial assessments, in a four hour period. When the next shift came on I gave up five patients, then was able to do dressing changes and more medications. That unit caused me to question my career, plus I was afraid I would make a mistake and lose my license. That day was a comin'. So, I left nursing and I don't believe I'll go back, unless forced to.
This judge "Judy" had better start forcing people to become nurses. If it's against the law to have fewer nurses than a 5-to-1 ratio, hospitals will have to close or break the law because there are simply not enough nurses to meet the requirement.
The problem is an inefficient hospital system and as much as I hate to admit it, allowing the 1:5 ratio may be a necessary evil. Despite the current 1:6 ratio, hospitals cut corners and allow 7 or more patients per nurse. Nurses regularly work 12 hour shifts, with no lunch break and are spread far too thin for safety.
The healthcare industry needs restructuring and I firmly believe providers should be running the show, cutting out the bureaucracy that believes bigger is better. Small privately run specialty hospitals are the first step.
In my experience in the hospitals, nurses spend about one half hour total per day in each patient's room, which equates to 48 nurses per patient under the California proposal.
Maybe they have something equivalent to the cops' donut shop where they hang out.
No lunch breaks and no potty breaks either.
But yes, something needs to be done. When I was working at that last hospital, they were talking about training the ward clerks(transcribed MD orders, answered phones, etc.) to draw blood and act as nursing assistants. All to save money, and this was a private hospital, I did work a burn and trauma unit, dangerous due to gang bangers, no one carried more that 5 patients a shift and that was the University of Arkansas.
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