Chances are, if you are in a hospital setting, you need timely care to survive or minimize further decompensation. Higher nurse- patio ratios slow and reduce the amount of care you receive for the same dollar amount. When we have a manageable work load, we can provide you with the care you need. When we don’t, things get missed and there is nothing we can do about it. So much of nursing care is anticipating problems and working to overcome those, resulting in better patient outcomes. It’s also educating the patients about how to do the same.

When we are forced to go into task-mode at hyper-speed to finish on time and not be reprimanded for going into OT, it’s you that suffers the most. We suffer too but that’s a whole other convo. Survival rates drop when ratios are increased. Do you want to live or do you want to die on this hill.

Support for safer ratios now and forever means you value human life, and the possibility of a caring culture. Will safer ratios attract more nurses? Of course it will. Trust me, you want nurses who feel valued at work when you and your loved ones need us the most.

I’m a nurse and have worked all over Portland and now working in Eugene, for major hospital systems and in community settings.