A poll of 400 registered nurses living and working in Michigan has exposed the desperate working conditions in the health care system throughout the state that is leading to a dramatic rise in negative patient outcomes including an increase in the number of deaths due to understaffing.
It s long been known that providing skilled nursing can be among the most demanding jobs. At the same time, it s crucial to keep enough nurses working in the profession to meet public health care needs.
Nurses across the state say dangerous levels of understaffing are becoming the norm, even though hospitals are no longer overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
More than 90% of nurses in Michigan believe that understaffing is negatively affecting the quality of care they’re able to provide, according to a new report. The percentage of respondents who know of a patient death being caused by nurses being assigned too many patients nearly doubled in the past seven years from 22% in 2016 to 42% in 2023.
Nurses across the state say dangerous levels of understaffing are becoming the norm, even though hospitals are no longer overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.