LANSING (WKZO-AM) — State Rep. Jon Hoadley has reintroduced a House bill that aims to protect nurses from being overworked.
The Democrat from Kalamazoo said the Safe Patient Care Act creates maximum patient-nurse ratios. It also disallows hospitals from using mandatory overtime as a non-emergency staffing strategy.
“Nurses work really hard, but they need a little bit of help to make sure that they’re not being asked to take on tasks that would be dangerous in any other situation,” Hoadley said.
He says the aim is to keep exhausted nurses from making critical, possibly deadly errors.
“We have limits on the number of hours a truck driver can drive or an airplane pilot can fly, but we don’t on how long a nurse can work? I mean, that just doesn’t make sense to me,” Hoadley said before Monday’s press conference announcing the legislation.
Similar legislation was introduced in 2013. The bill has already won the support of the Michigan Nurses Association.
– Anthony Pollreisz
