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H. B. No. 346 As IntroducedAs Introduced
127th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2007-2008 |
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Cosponsors:
Representatives Hagan, R., DeGeeter, Yuko, Strahorn, Flowers, Peterson, Setzer, Oelslager, Williams, S., Fende, Skindell
A BILL
To enact sections 3727.50 to 3727.57 of the Revised
Code
regarding hospital staffing guidelines for
registered nurses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 3727.50, 3727.51, 3727.52, 3727.53,
3727.54, 3727.55, 3727.56, and 3727.57 of the Revised Code be
enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 3727.50. (A) As used in this section and sections
3727.51 to 3727.57 of the Revised Code:
"Direct patient care" means care provided by a registered
nurse with direct responsibility to carry out medical
regimens or
nursing care for one or more patients.
"Nurse" means a person who is licensed to practice as a
registered nurse under Chapter 4723. of the Revised Code.
(B) Each hospital shall convene a hospital-wide nursing
care
committee not later than ninety days after the effective date
of
this section or, if the hospital is not treating patients on
the
effective date of this section, ninety days after the hospital
begins to treat patients. The hospital's chief nursing officer
must be a member and the committee's remaining membership must
include, but not be limited to, nurses who provide direct patient
care in a number sufficient to adequately represent on the
committee all types of nursing care services in the hospital.
Sec. 3727.51. The chief nursing officer of each hospital
shall establish a mechanism for obtaining input from nurses in all
inpatient care units who provide direct patient care regarding
what the nursing services staffing plan recommendations described
in division (B) of section 3727.52 of the Revised Code should
include.
Sec. 3727.52. A hospital-wide nursing care committee convened
pursuant to section 3727.50 of the Revised Code shall do all of
the following:
(A) If one exists, evaluate the hospital's current nursing
services staffing plan;
(B) Recommend a nursing services staffing plan that is
consistent
with current standards established by private or
governmental
accreditation organizations and addresses all of the
following:
(1) The selection, implementation, and evaluation of minimum
staffing levels for all inpatient care units that ensure that the
hospital has a staff of competent nurses with the specialized
skills needed to meet patient needs in accordance with
evidence-based safe nurse staffing standards.
(2) The complexity of complete care, assessment on patient
admission, volume of patient admissions, discharges and transfers,
evaluation of the progress of a patient's problems, ongoing
physical assessments, planning for a patient's discharge,
assessment after a change in patient condition, and assessment of
the need for patient referrals.
(3) Patient acuity and the number of patients for whom care
is being provided.
(4) The need for ongoing assessments of a unit's patients and
its nursing staff levels.
(5) The hospital's policy for identifying additional nurses
who can provide direct patient care when patients' unexpected
needs exceed the planned workload for direct care staff.
(C) The nursing services staffing plan recommended pursuant
to division (B) of this section shall be made available to any
person who requests it.
Sec. 3727.53. Each hospital shall create an evidence-based
written
nursing care
services staffing plan guiding the
assignment of
nurses hospital-wide. The staffing plan must, at a
minimum, reflect current
standards established by private or
governmental accreditation
organizations and be implemented not
later than ninety days after the hospital-wide nursing care
committee is convened pursuant to section 3727.50 of the Revised
Code, except that if the hospital's next fiscal year starts not
later than one hundred eighty days after the date on which the
committee convenes, implementation may be delayed until the first
day of that fiscal year.
The plan shall be based on multiple nurse and patient
considerations that yield minimum staffing levels for inpatient
care units that ensure that the hospital has a staff of
competent
nurses with specialized skills needed to meet patient
needs.
These considerations shall include both of the following:
(A) The recommendations of the hospital-wide nursing care
committee made under section 3727.52 of the Revised Code, which
shall be given significant weight.
(B) All of the matters listed in divisions (B)(1) to (B)(5)
of section 3727.52 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 3727.54. At least once a year, the hospital-wide nursing
care committee convened pursuant to section 3727.50 of the Revised
Code shall do both of the following:
(A) Review how the most current nursing services staffing
plan does all of the following:
(1) Affects inpatient care outcomes;
(2) Affects clinical management;
(3) Facilitates a delivery system that provides, on a
cost-effective basis, quality nursing care consistent with
acceptable and prevailing standards of safe nursing care and
evidenced-based guidelines established by national nursing
organizations.
(B) Make recommendations, based on the most recent review
conducted under division (A) of this section, regarding how the
most current nursing services staffing plan should be revised, if
at all. The recommendations must be made available to any person
who requests them.
Sec. 3727.55. To provide staffing flexibility to meet patient
needs,
every hospital shall identify a model for adjusting the
staffing
plan created under section 3727.53 of the Revised Code
for each inpatient care unit.
Sec. 3727.56. A copy of the nursing care services staffing
plan created under section 3727.53 of the Revised Code, and
subsequent changes to it, shall
be provided, free of charge, to
the hospital's nursing staff and
to any other person who requests
it.
Sec. 3727.57. Nothing in sections 3727.50 to 3727.56 of the
Revised Code shall be construed to limit,
alter, or modify any of
the terms, conditions, or provisions of a
collective bargaining
agreement entered into by a hospital.
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