According to The Florida Senate (2009), this general bill shall require hospitals to establish a nurse staffing committee, which, in turn, will produce a yearly nurse staffing plan, as well as posting of staffing schedules, in order to make them available to patients and visitors. Facts and Current Status: S1598, a General Bill by Senator Rich, was filed in the senate last February 13, 2009. Further, it was referred to the Health Regulation Committee and also to Health and Human Service Appropriations last March 3, 2009 (The Florida Senate, 2009).
The said bill will take effect on July 1, 2009, accordingly. Relevance to the Nursing Profession: As each one of us may come to agree, the nursing staff plays a crucial role in providing management and care to a variety of patients. And as we all know, nurses are said to be the “frontline” of the heath team. In this regard, it is essential that an adequate number of responsible and responsive nursing staff must be available to render services to the clients at all times.
Hence, upon its effective date, this significant bill will be of great help in providing quality and safe nursing services to all patients.
References
The Florida Senate (flsenate. gov). (2009). Senate 1598: Relating to Nurse Staffing [SPSC]. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. flsenate. gov/session/index. cfm? Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&BillNum=1598 The Library of Congress [Thomas]. (2009). H. R. 605. Retrieved March 26, 2009, from http://thomas. loc. gov/cgi-bin/query/F? c111:1:. /temp/~c111eC2Jj8:e0: