Saint Mary's Reno RNs Win Landmark N...( Huge Breakthroughs in Patient Safe...),Health

Huge Breakthroughs in Patient Safety with RN Staffing Ratios 29.5% Pay

Hikes, Pension, Retiree Health Will Aid RN Retention

RENO, Nev., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno won a groundbreaking tentative agreement with hospital officials early this morning on their first-ever collective bargaining pact that sets a new Nevada standard for patient safety protections and enhanced conditions for RNs.

Establishment of hospital-wide minimum, specific RN-to-patient staffing ratios is a centerpiece of the proposed pact, the California Nurses Association/ National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), which represents 500 RNs at Saint Mary's, said this morning. Saint Mary's RNs voted to join CNA/NNOC last December.

"This agreement will transform the landscape for nurses and patients in Nevada," said Jill Furillo, RN, the CNA/NNOC Nevada director. "RNs throughout Nevada closely followed our contract talks. The breathtaking improvements we have achieved, which are unprecedented in Nevada, will have a profound impact throughout the state."

"Saint Mary's nurses have negotiated the best contract in the state of Nevada," said labor and delivery RN Mary Maupin.

The ratios, which match those won by CNA/NNOC in California law and hundreds of California hospitals, and strengthened through enforceable contract law, are the first-ever California-style, hospital-wide ratios achieved for any RNs outside California.

"We set initial goals for staffing ratios and have gone well beyond our expectations. We are so proud to be the first state outside of California to have achieved the California ratios in our contract," said neo-natal intensive care Unit RN Marylea Hall.

Additional key elements of the pact include more patient safety protections, with limits on unsafe assignments of RNs to areas where they do not have clinical expertise, and safe patient handling procedur
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