On behalf of the UAN and nurses everywhere I want to thank ANA for doing this survey. Patients and their families may well be alarmed by the results, and they should be. We have a very real public health care crisis in this country.
Patients are at risk in today's hospitals.
They're not receiving the care they need because there aren't enough nurses on staff or on duty to provide safe, quality care. That is unacceptable. Many health care facilities focus on cost over quality of care. They cut corners and cut staff nurses, relying on routine use of mandatory overtime and floating to fill gaps in staffing. Patients often pay a heavy price when RN staffing is inadequate, such as longer recovery times, increased complications and higher mortality rates.