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Illinois Nurses Association Statement on
Chicago Tribune series on "Nursing Errors"

Like the general public, the Illinois Nurses Association was alarmed to see the disturbing headlines in the Chicago Tribune's series on nurses' involvement in medical errors. A close reading of the articles, however, reveals the findings that “nursing errors” are overwhelmingly attributable to inadequate staffing and systems, issues that nurses and the Illinois Nurses Association have long warned would result in the deterioration of quality care.

The fact is nurses are a patient's best safety net in the hospital. Although many hospitals have cut nursing staff, RNs are still held responsible for providing round-the-clock care to patients. Every day nurses prevent countless problems and complications, catch mistakes before they happen and try to provide the very best care possible in extremely difficult situations. When that safety net gets stretched too thin, mistakes are more likely to happen, as the Tribune article has shown. Conversely, research shows that increased RN staffing results in lower mortality rates, fewer complications, fewer readmissions, and lower costs. Sadly, health care shareholders and reimbursers have ignored nurses' warnings and the research at tremendous cost to patients and nurses.

Nurses are among few groups of professionals whose mistakes can cost lives. That is why reducing the risks of errors is so important. The Illinois Nurses Association believes the best ways to reduce those risks are:

• provide enough qualified RNs to care for patients based upon their individual needs (without resorting to excessive and/or mandatory RN overtime), and
• provide adequate systems to support RNs in their critical work – for example, safe medication administration systems, safe IV pumps, needleless systems, checks and balances in communications and processes, and adequate orientation and training on procedures and equipment.

The Illinois Nurses Association (INA) is an advocate for nursing regulation that protects the public. We do not want impaired or dangerous nurses at the bedside. INA was one of the first state nurses associations to form a Peer Assistance Network for Nurses twenty years ago to help get nurses into treatment. Until then, impaired nurses were often fired from one hospital only to be hired, still impaired, at another. As one of a coalition of nursing organizations, INA currently supports a program that allows nurses to voluntarily step forward for rehabilitation from drug and alcohol dependency problems in lieu of initial discipline against their license. This is the best way to guarantee that impaired nurses will get help instead of hiding their problems, staying in the workforce, and potentially hurting patients.

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