Massachusetts residents, what do you think is important for voters to consider regarding Question 1 and nurse to patient ratios?

This is extremely simple. 

A no vote is the answer.

Why? do you ask!  

Simple again; Check out the State of California, they have voted for question 1 with a yes vote & what a Fiasco that became.

I rest my case!

Anthony.H

AAMCO, Wilmington. MA.

No on 1!

No is the right vote

Everytime a government gets involved in healthcare, it's a disaster. The cost of medical services is the problem. We in MA should have the lowest healthcare costs in the country

I would urge everyone to consider the current system is already overburdened due to massive layoffs...A yes vote would require administrations to hire more nurses to strengthen an exhausted staff. If that is not an effective solution, I would like to know what is...Anyone?

It’s really a tough decision because, over all, there should be safe nurse to patient ratio’s but in facilities that don’t have many bed/float nurses, it’s going to be difficult to follow the guidelines. Still on the fence.

I left the field of healthcare for reasons like this one. (And I liked what I did.). There were always too many patients not enough staff, and I am only one person. It's not fair to either involved.  

In reading the bill put forth (and I'm not a legal eagle) I thought the bill is straightforward. I have been a nurse for 14 years in critical care (ED, ICU) and psychiatry. In most hospitals I have worked there is already a maximum patient load, so for many (even big city) hospitals, the requirement is not unreasonable. The difference is, the state is going to penalize those who do not have that reasonable max patient load. I equate it to the MA state child car-seat laws. Most parents are thoughtful, careful and very protective of their children. But, some parents are not. The state is there to ENSURE that even the 'not-so-careful' parents are at least riding with children protected in a car-seat. Do I like the state to tell me what to do? No, but I'm a reasonable person able to make good decisions for myself. 

Hospital corporations fit into the 'not-so-careful' type of entity. Their bottom line is the dollar. More staff equals more money invested - period. Having worked for large corporations I know that it isn't the floor nurse who is invested in making money for the hospital - those employees are there to care for ill patients. The managers are in place to ensure that the budget given for each department is met(and other legalities such as licenses and certifications are up-to-date) and to manage staffing needs. They are told they cannot hire overtime when staffing is less than adequate. They try floating staff or changing shift/tours or hiring for 'comp' (unpaid for trade) time. If this bill passes, they will have to hire overtime or more staff to cover patient flow and acuity - no choice. 

For patients and staffing this is only a good thing. In my experience, when staffing is inadequate, that's when bad things just seem to happen. The only way to handle those emergencies then, is to rip staff from other units - putting the other units at risk for an event (and over and over). Hire more staffing. Set patient-to-nurse ratio limits. Man up and pay for it. I already voted 'Yes.'

I don’t mind if hospitals keep hiring more nurses, but will it increase already ridiculous healthcare costs? This is what it leads to. And who is going to pay for those costs? Did you do research?

Why are we being to ask to legislate a management/employee issue? I would think they know best on how to manage their work.

My view is simple.  Vote YES

On question 1.  The question was put on the ballot by nurses that are concerned with Patient quality of care that they can provide their patients.   Hospital administrators are fighting this because they don’t want to hire the appropriate number of nurses to handle the work load.   So they are using all kinds of scare tactics to confuse the issue and spending a ton of money confusing everyone.    Don’t be confused.  Vote with the nurses who put this question on the ballot. Vote YES.