Patient safety and outcomes are directly related to the quality of the nursing care that they receive. To ensure this quality there should at least be Joint Commission guidelines, if not federal laws, on nurse-patient ratios in hospitals and federal recommendations across all care settings. Patients are put at risk when one nurse is overwhelmed with patients with acuity levels beyond the time that is allotted for each patient. Nurses are being forced to choose between refusing patients which puts them at risk for losing their jobs and the quality of nursing care that they can provide. Nurses need help.
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