Patients deserve a nurse who has time to care for them, not one forced to choose which patient has to wait.

I'm Alyson Hayon, a registered nurse, and I'm tired of pretending we can fix unsafe staffing by working harder. We skip breaks, rush through care, and go home knowing we did the best we could with an impossible assignment. Our patients deserve better. So do we.

When nurses are stretched too thin, essential care can be delayed or missed. Medication may arrive late. A change in a patient's condition may take longer to catch. These are not just frustrating moments in a busy shift. They are patient safety risks.

That patient could be your parent, your partner, or you. This is not about nurses caring too little. It is about hospitals asking too few nurses to do too much.

Congress has a concrete proposal to address this: the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2025, H.R. 3415 and S. 1709, introduced in May 2025.

The bill would set enforceable limits on how many patients a direct-care registered nurse can be assigned. The limits differ by hospital unit, and hospitals must add staff when patients need more care. It sets a minimum standard. It does not treat every patient or every unit the same.

It would also protect nurses who report unsafe conditions. Nurses could refuse assignments that break the limits or that they aren't trained to handle safely, without losing their jobs. Hospitals that knowingly break the rules could be fined up to $25,000 for a first violation and up to $50,000 for each one after. Speaking up for patient safety should never cost a nurse their job.

The bill is built to work in the real world. Rural hospitals get up to four years to comply. Hospitals cannot use mandatory overtime to meet the limits. Medicare would help pay the added cost.

The Joint Commission made staffing a National Performance Goal in 2026. Hospitals must now be staffed to meet patients' needs. But it sets no numbers. Congress must go further with specific, enforceable, nationwide nurse-to-patient limits.

We are calling on Congress to pass this bill now. If it runs out of time this session, we call on Congress to bring it back on day one of the next. Patients deserve timely care. Nurses deserve assignments they can safely carry out. Neither should have to accept unsafe staffing as normal.

Sign this petition to demand Congress protect patients and pass safe staffing limits. Then share it with a nurse, a patient, or someone who has sat beside a loved one's hospital bed. We should not have to wait for another preventable tragedy to make safe staffing a priority.