HB 3016: New Protections for Nurse Staffing Law
Last year, ONA members brought evidence showing hospitals exploited the state of emergency to deviate from staffing plans, sometimes when they had no COVID-19 patients! The state legislature listened and passed House Bill 3016 (HB 3016), placing greater restrictions on hospitals.
On Jan. 1, 2022 these new restrictions went into effect, making it incredibly difficult to deviate from staffing plans that have been approved by the hospital nurse staffing committee.
Some key highlights of the changes:
- Clear limits on how long a Hospital can deviate from plans
- To deviate from staffing plans there needs to be “a national emergency or state emergency requiring implementation of a facility disaster plan and crisis standards of care.”
- The incident command shall report a written assessment to both co-chairs of the staffing committee within 30 days of deviating from a plan
- Deviation may not occur for more than 90 cumulative days unless approved by the staffing committee.
ONA members should empower themselves by taking time to read the new language around the Nurse Staffing Plan During an Emergency here.
As Oregon faces another surge it is important for ONA members to hold hospital executives accountable to the law!
ONA Staffing Committee Resource Manual
ONA is excited to announce and distribute the release of our new Staffing Committee Resource Manual in electronic format. The resource manual includes information on the Oregon Nurse Staffing Law and a series of PowerPoint presentations on Hospital Based
Nurse Staffing Committees and Staffing Request & Documentation Forms (SRDF), resources from the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
Resources Regarding Overtime
Staffing Request & Documentation Forms
Nurses are ethically obligated to report when staffing on their unit is insufficient or unsafe for patients. When nurses are faced with a staffing problem it is important that the nurse a) notify someone in the chain of command, b) ask for additional
staff, and c) ask for a response in a reasonable period of time, e.g., minutes, hours.
If the problem persists, completing a Staffing Request & Documentation Forms (SRDF) is an important way nurses can notify their facility and ONA of a potential staffing problem.
Nurse Staffing Resources
Contact ONA
If you have questions about Oregon's Nurse Staffing Law or would like to inquire about scheduling a training, please contact ONA via email at practice@oregonrn.org.
