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Prior to the act coming into effect this year, DeMoro told us, "there were higher rates of infection, and higher rates of re-admission, because patients who were discharged too early had to come back -- patients who didn't get the full care they needed in the hospital, couldn't get the care at home."
"Since the ratio has been adopted, we've not only seen more nurses in the hospital, but those nurses who are in the hospital really have the time to care for their patients," she says.
In the rest of the country, DeMoro explains, the problem remains very severe, with nurses handling as many as a dozen patients each.
In California, the nurse-to-patient rules mandate varying ratios for different kinds of care. The present requirement in medical/surgical units is a one-to-six ratio. Under previously existing rules, hospitals were scheduled to reduce that ratio to one-to-five starting January 1 of next year. Arnold's action gives them until 2008.
The governor took the action at the specific request of a real special interest, the state's hospital industry.
The California Healthcare Association, which represents the industry, has taken out television ads praising the governor for his courageous action.
Siding with big business against patients and nurses. He's a real tough guy, alright.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter
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