HB 2697 Has Passed in Both The House And The Senate!

As of June 22, Oregon House Bill 2697 has passed both the House and the Senate! We have had a wild ride to get to this point: months of negotiations with hospitals and legislators, then our powerful House hearing in February, and next a six-week Senate Republican walkout denying quorum to pass bills… and not to mention the years of mistreatment of nurses and allied health care workers by hospitals that brought us to this point.

We believe HB 2697 is vital to fixing Oregon’s collapsing healthcare system. It will put numerical minimum safe staffing ratios for nurses and CNAs to patients in hospital settings by unit; expand the staffing committee structure to service, technical, and professional allied health care workers; and require the state to enforce the staffing law – including for missed meal and rest breaks. Hospitals must comply with the nurse-to-patient ratios on June 1, 2024, and the new staffing committees must be set up on or before December 31, 2024. Increased mandatory state enforcement begins June 1, 2025.

Thank you to those of you who showed up to provide testimony, meet with legislators, post on your social media, and tell your coworkers about the bill to get us across the finish line! We are also grateful to our labor partners, legislators, and other stakeholders for supporting our efforts.

But the work is just beginning: this fall, ONA will engage in rulemaking with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) to guide them in implementing some of the most complex elements of the bill. And, between now and when the ratios and new committees of HB 2697 take effect next year, we will be training our staffing committee members to transition towards implementing those provisions of the bill into staffing plans. Once the bill takes effect, we know that some hospitals will still try to skirt the staffing law, so we will all be accountable for filing timely complaints to the Oregon Health Authority and ensuring that the agency enforces the law.

For today, congratulations to Oregon’s nurses and allied healthcare workers! We are optimistic that Oregonians who work in hospitals and who are patients will see better outcomes.

For more details on the specifics of the bill, you can reference the amended bill walkthrough.

Your Stories

Every nurse in Oregon has an unsafe staffing story, and most nurses experience the implications of unsafe staffing every single day. Here you will hear from nurses from across the state who are telling their stories – stories that will help educate the public and inform legislators about the real world, day-to-day impacts of Oregon’s current nurse staffing crises.

You can also share your own story by clicking here.

“Our clinic was fully staffed until July 1st when, due to budget cuts, one whole medical team was eliminated. The remaining two teams were combined into one and given an enormous workload, compromising patient safety. Our workload doubled from one day to the next. Several attempts were made with management to get them to hire help, but those were not successful….” – RN, Multnomah County

“Last week a fellow ER nurse called in sick which left 2 ER nurses and an ER Tech to work from 7am to 7pm. Our walk-in clinic was closed due to not having a provider and our OB department went on divert, which meant that any pregnant person went to the ED if they presented with OB issues. All urgent and non-urgent folks came to the ED that day. By 9am we were slammed….Needless to say; delay delay delay of everything. Septic patients, status epilepticus, chest pains, syncope and psyche patients who required 1:1 observation, hip fracture, and then the non-urgent patients who waited hours to be seen or who just left. Every single one received the bare minimum of care…” – RN, Providence Seaside Hospital

"I work the night shift and last month I came into work with every RN having an assignment of 6 patients. We were very short staffed of both RNs and CNAs, so much so that we didn’t even have a charge nurse for the night. Complicating my night was the fact that 5 of my 6 patients did not have computers in their rooms that were functioning, requiring me to use the phone to scan meds and check patient information…. Between trying to do the basic care for the patients that were not having issues and the hourly pain meds, the new orders for labs, EKG's, new drips and increased monitoring, lots of messages back and forth form the MD and comforting concerned family… I left feeling very incompetent, broken to the point that I told myself, “if this happens to me again, I am DONE, I don't need this in my life.” Everywhere I look there is a “now hiring" sign in the window…” – RN, Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center

“I work in a hospital system that has many things going for it. The size, scope of care provided and generally the people I work with are what makes it a good place. I am a nurse of 42+ years, I am a well-respected team member and hope - really hope- I can hang on for two and half more years.
I am willing to work hard and always have been, but now I am questioning IF I should continue due to the rapidly accumulating stress on my body and psyche due to the constant and rising demands from ongoing staffing issues.” – RN, PeaceHealth

“I was precepting a new grad and was assigned two rooms with the same labor-intensive immunotherapy drug, as well as two other rooms, for a total of four patients. This particular orientee was struggling and needed a lot of intensive support and supervision. My two immunotherapy rooms required vital signs and titration every 30 minutes. I ended up making a medication error that I normally would not have made, running this drug with an incompatible IV fluid and potentially compromising the drug’s efficacy. The attention to detail needed to take care of cancer patients is routinely dismissed by leadership on this floor, nurses are afraid due to lack of staff and support, and errors can result in less efficacious treatment at best and be life threatening at worst. If I had cancer and needed inpatient treatment, I would be afraid for my life…” – RN, Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center

“I have been in my position as a post liver transplant coordinator for 15 years. I have approximately 800 post patients who I manage, at various levels of acuity. Historically there has only been two, yes two, nurses for this patient load… I do not remember the last time I worked a 40-hour work week, the last time I got a lunch break, the last time I did not have to work on the weekend. I average 105 hours a pay period – and this is not right. I am told no more over time, but patient care comes first… I am tired, so very tired…” – RN, OHSU

“This past week I experienced a shift that highlighted the struggles nurses face as the short staffing crisis rages on. In addition to being displaced from my home unit for the past few months due to renovations and attempts to salvage staffing on other floors, I struggle daily with the raging burnout so many of us feel…but let me tell you about this shift. After 11pm, I was the primary carer for 5 patients. My charge nurse attempted to fulfill the role of CNA, but throughout the night this only added up to taking 2 sets of vitals out of the 10+ that I had to collect and record. 2 of my 5 patients were new admissions, requiring extra documentation and time spent in the room. 4 of my 5 patients were confused, meaning they required extra check-ins to ensure they are safe and their needs are being met. 2 of my 5 patients were Covid +, meaning I had to spend extra time donning and doffing PPE to ensure my other patients and myself are protected from the virus. 2 of my 5 patients had difficulties speaking or were deaf, requiring extra intervention each time I attempted to communicate with them….What do you do when you don’t even have the staff to supply a “skeleton crew” of workers? What do you do when there is no option for basic support, let alone additional support? I left the shift (an hour late) feeling defeated. Tired. Drained. Empty. Knowing I had to return the next day and face the same situations. And the worst part? I know that, despite this effecting me so heavily, this effects my patients more. I could have provided better care for my patients had we been appropriately staffed. That night I provided the BEST care I was humanly able to provide. But I did not provide the BEST care. It was impossible. Impossible. Let that sink in. It will be IMPOSSIBLE for you to receive the best care while your nurses remain short staffed. It will be IMPOSSIBLE for best patient outcomes to occur when you are unable to provide the resources needed to meet this goal. We are killing our nurses and slowly killing our patients at the same time. It’s an awful, horrible cycle. It needs to end. It HAS to. Take us seriously or someone will die. Patients already have…” – RN, McKenzie Willamette Medical Center

“We have been short staffed and unable to fill our in-house overnight position, even with a traveler. So a few of the older nurses from my unit have been rotating a night each week to work since March. It has definitely taken a toll on each of us; our attitudes and our willingness to help our department. I have had a few instances where I started my normal sift at work at 630am, worked until the night shift was over at 630am and then worked my normal shift that day. That is a 32 hour day and worked all but 45 minutes of it straight, with no sleep. There have been a few times our weekend nurse has gotten there Friday night at 8:30pm and worked straight through to Sunday morning because of no relief…” – RN, at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center