Minnesota Nurses Association releases report highlighting understaffing

The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) released a report Wednesday that highlights statewide staffing issues at health care facilities.

The annual Concern for Safe Staffing (CFSS) report includes worries from nurses at hospitals across the state.

The group says nurses typically fill out the forms when a lack of staffing starts affecting patient care. They also take note of when patients are potentially at risk or are harmed, or when nurses feel patients didn’t receive the care they needed due to staffing.

MNA says 7,857 CFSS forms were submitted last year, a 108% increase over the previous year.

The association blamed hospital managers and executives for failing to adequately respond to over 80% of those cases.

MNA also touted the “Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act” in the Minnesota Legislature, saying it would create local, flexible committees to work together and set staffing levels.

The Minnesota Hospital Association responded with the following statement:

“The MNA report today does not reflect the reality of high-quality care Minnesotans received at our hospitals and health systems throughout the pandemic.  To be sure, 2021 was an extremely difficult year for each member of our care teams – including licensed practical nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, respiratory therapists, laboratory professionals, registered nurses and more.  Patient and workplace safety are vital to everything we do and are one of the reasons Minnesota consistently ranks as one of the best states to work as a nurse. Multiple national independent quality organizations, including the federal Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ) and the Commonwealth Fund, also rank Minnesota among the top states for delivery of safe and high-quality health care. Our commitment to provide the very best in patient care is unwavering as we have proven yet again during the last two years of a global pandemic.”