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You are a lobbyist for an issue that you find important

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You are a lobbyist for an issue that you find important. For example, you would like to see the banning of smoking in federal buildings (Note: This policy has already been enacted.) You are going to m

April 19, 2020

Honorable Lauren Underwood

Congresswoman

The U.S. House of Representative

666 Russel Ct Suite 309,

Woodstock, IL 60098

Dear Honorable Lauren Underwood:

The nurse to patient ratio nation wide is unsafe and is leading to untimely deaths of patients. There should be a law in place to set limitations on the maximum patients that a nurse can have based on the patient’s acuity. While there are 14 states who has implemented safe staffing laws, 13 states only require having a plan in place to manage the ratio, not regulate it (Lippincott, 2019).

In research where California implemented lawful ratio were compared to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, California had better patient outcomes. In 2018 research showed to every nurse added the inpatient mortality risk dropped by 14%. In 2007 by adding one fulltime RN to a unit the hospital related deaths rate would decrease by 9% in the ICU, 16 % in surgical patients, and 6 % in medical patients (DPE, 2019).

In 2010 research showed results of overtime work linked with incidents of heart disease. Studies have shown that high nurse-to-patient ratios correlate with increased medical errors, pressure ulcers, pneumonia, infections, MRSA, accidental death, and cardiac arrest. In 2016 survival for patients was 16% for nurses with poor working condition, and 5% for each patient added per nurse on a medsurg unit (DPE, 2019).

I chose you for this agenda as you are a nurse and can relate to this issue on a more intimate level from experience whether it was you or you heard it from your colleagues. Enclosed with this letter is a pamphlet presenting the need for a law to regulate nurse-to-patient ratio, and why it is crucial to implement a law to save the lives of both patients and nurses a like.

Sincerely,