[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NURSE REINVESTMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 2002

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
the bipartisan Nurse Reinvestment Act. I applaud the hard work of 
Congresswoman Capps and thank her for her dedication to this important 
public health issue.
  Today's nurses are overworked, period. And despite their best 
efforts, the nursing shortage is impacting patient care.
  Included in this bill's many worthy provisions, are measures to 
provide incentives for young Americans to decide to become nurses. 
Keeping our nurses in the workforce, while recruiting new staff will be 
critical to reversing these startling shortages.
  Our nation's nurses are stressed and overworked. More and more, the 
stress and the work conditions have caused many nurses to stop 
practicing. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
report, 19 percent of New York's registered nurses were not practicing 
in 2000, up 4 percent since 1996.
  Worse yet, three quarters of nurses feel the quality of nursing care 
at the medical facility at which they work has decreased over the last 
two years, in large part do to under staffing. In New York, the nurse 
patient ratio violations have become so frequent that the New York 
Professional Nurses Union has put the hotline to report these 
violations on the front of their webpage, right next to instructions on 
how to take a sick day, or a vacation day. When nurse patient ratio 
violations are as common as a sick day, health care is clearly hurting.
  Again, I applaud the hard work of Mrs. Capps and her colleagues. 
Thank you, Mr. Speaker..

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