WSHA now has five proactive bills moving through the state Legislature as part of the Protect Patient Safety & Access campaign addressing the hospital staffing crisis. Three of these will get a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care at 8 a.m. Friday, and WSHA will testify in support. The hearing will be broadcast online through TVW.
The bills up for hearings this week require greater transparency among health care staffing agencies, establish the Washington State Hospital Patient Care Unit Innovation Collaborative to come up with innovating staffing models, and a bill aimed at standardizing the number of clinical placement hours for nursing students across the state.
The other two bills received hearings last week. Those bills call for Washington to join the Multistate Nurse Licensure Compact and establish a loan repayment assistance program for eligible nurses, respectively.
