I believe it is a privilege to be a nurse. It is a privilege to provide exceptional, compassionate care to people who are sick, injured and feeling vulnerable. That’s why I’m so disappointed about Question 1. I am the nursing director for the Emergency Department at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and see firsthand how nurses, doctors and other clinicians work together to provide extraordinary care to our patients. The dynamic flow of patients in an emergency department requires nurses to vigorously use critical thinking skills and professional judgment to meet the needs of our patients.
This expertise cannot be reduced to a numbers game. Patients are not numbers, and neither are nurses. If passed, Question 1 will force nurses to care for a number of patients, not the needs of patients.
The fixed ratios will also cause delay in care and limit access to emergency department services. Recruiting experienced emergency department nurses is already a challenge.
Consider what would happen if a patient’s condition deteriorated while in the Emergency Department or a trauma patient arrives and the nurses are at their maximum ratio. The nurses will be faced with caring for the patient and incurring a $25,000 fine for the hospital, or not caring for the patient and the patient will wait. Fixed ratios decrease access to care and prohibit nurses from using professional judgment in managing the needs of patients.
Question 1 only allows exemptions in the case of a state-declared public health emergency, not for the day to day flow of an ever-changing Emergency Department environment. I urge voters to carefully research the details of Question 1 and understand the consequences and the impact this mandate could have on your local health care system. Cooley Dickinson’s mission is to “serve our patients and communities with exceptional, compassionate, and personalized care.” Please vote “no” on Question 1, allowing us to preserve our mission and care for our patients.
Sara C. McKeown
Northampton