Despite increasing vacancy rates and growing workforce shortages, Connecticut hospitals remain among of the best in the country, as a recently released national study indicates, ranking our hospitals 6th in the nation across a broad spectrum of quality indicators. Care delivery is changing all the time. Where and how health care is delivered today is different than even a few years ago. Technology is continuously and rapidly changing the way care is delivered. New protocols and research breakthroughs are constantly changing care and treatment plans.
More care is delivered outside the hospital.
These continuous changes require staffing flexibility. Organizations and their nurse leaders must have the flexibility to use their nursing resources in the way that makes most sense from a quality patient care perspective. With pressure for cost containment coming from the public and employers, hospitals and health systems must find more efficient ways to deliver the best care to patients. Today's hospitals must respond ever more quickly and effectively to new economic demands. Mandating higher nurse staffing ratios may penalize effective and efficient providers.