Assembly Committee Approves Bill to Protect Nurses
An important workplace safety bill to protect registered nurses and other caregivers from disabling injuries and safeguard patients from preventable falls won approval today from the Assembly Labor Committee. SB 1204, sponsored by the California Nurses Association and authored by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, has already been passed by the Senate and next will be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
The bill requires hospitals to have "zero lift policies," such as providing patient lifting equipment and training to employees to avoid debilitating back and other musculoskeletal injuries. Similar legislation in the past two years has been vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger due to hospital industry opposition, despite a growing plague of back injuries, especially for nurses.
California Hospital Association representatives today continued that opposition in committee testimony. Dorel Harms, a CHA vice president, contended “the average nurse” would not understand the new law, and a CHA lobbyist claimed that nurses would use the law as an excuse to refuse lifting infants. "It's shameful that hospital industry officials would be so indifferent to the pain and suffering of their caregivers and oppose common sense approaches that protect patients and keep nurses at the bedside in the midst of a nursing shortage," said CNA President Deborah Burger, RN.
Healthcare workers, 95% of whom are women, lead the nation in work-related musculoskeletal disorders. They endure more of these injuries (62,332 in 1999) than truck drivers or construction workers. In 2002, the University of California's five medical centers had over 700 such injuries with a cost of $11 million to the state. "California's nursing workforce is aging at the same time patient acuity and obesity are rising. Manual lifting can injure fragile patients by putting too much pressure on sensitive joints and compromised skin. It is imperative that we protect our nurses and other healthcare workers from injury, and provide patients with safe and appropriate care," Burger said.
In testimony earlier this year before the Senate Labor Committee, Pam Marcum, the Director of Claims for the ALPHA fund, a joint powers authority which handles workers' compensation claims for 27 healthcare districts, five nonprofit hospitals, and 14 other health-related entities in California, said, "Patient movement injuries account for nearly 30% of all of our workers' compensation claims."
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