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Nurses and unions press committee to set limits on patient assignments; hospitals and behavioral health providers raise concerns
Summary
The Joint Committee on Public Health received extensive testimony in favor of H2448/S1522, a bill directing the Department of Public Health to set maximum patient assignments per registered nurse. Nurses described unsafe workloads and patient harm; hospitalists and psychiatric providers raised regulatory and operational concerns.
Registered nurses, union leaders and patient‑safety advocates urged the Joint Committee on Public Health to advance legislation (H2448/S1522) that would direct the Department of Public Health to set maximum nurse‑to‑patient assignments in hospitals.
Katie Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association and a critical care nurse, told the committee that “each additional patient assigned to a nurse above safe level increases the risk of mortality by 7 percent,” citing research linking staffing to outcomes. Molly Donovan and other bedside nurses described…
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