Nurses in New York are currently expected to provide care for upwards of six or seven patients at a time – that is just plain unsafe! Safe staffing ratios improve patient outcomes and nurse retention rates. Research shows that “the odds of patient mortality increased by 7% for every additional patient in the average nurse’s workload in the hospital” (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Sochalski & Silber, 2002). Nurses report greater emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction with higher nurse-patient ratios. Aiken et al. (2002) found that for every additional patient assigned to a nurse, burnout increased by 23% and job dissatisfaction by 15%. Opponents of the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act argue that additional staffing increases hospital expenditures. However, research suggests that the increased cost for additional staffing is equivocal to the savings for decreased patient length of stay, without accounting for savings achieved by preventing complications such as hospital acquired infections (Shamliyan, Kane, Mueller, Duvall & Wilt, 2009). The Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act in New York proposes staffing regulations that place caps on the number of patients a nurse can care for on specific units. The bill was introduced to both the State Assembly (A1548) and State Senate (S782), but once again died in committee for the 2015-2016 legislative cycle due to lack of support. Please join me as I urge our legislators to revive and support The Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. Let our local government know that we value patient safety and nurses’ rights! References   Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P., Sloane, D.M., Sochalski, J. & Silber, J.H. (2002). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Journal of American Medical Association, 288(16), pp. 1987-1993.   Shamliyan, T.A., Kane, R.L., Mueller, C., Duval, S. & Wilt, T.J. (2009). Cost savings associated with increased RN staffing in acute care hospitals: Simulation exercise. Nursing Economics, 27(5), pp. 302-314.