For several weeks, New York City has been at the center of a national debate about how many nurses should be on duty at hospitals. That dispute spurred more than 10,000 nurses to threaten to walk off their jobs this month at three of New York’s biggest hospital systems.
On Tuesday, the union that represents the nurses said it reached a groundbreaking agreement with the hospitals that would lead to the hiring of 1,450 additional nurses and for the first time establish minimum ratios of nurses to patients.
“That’s what makes this agreement historic,” said Anthony Ciampa, first vice president of the New York State Nurses Association. “We now have a voice in the process and a real say and a real mechanism in which to challenge patterns of staffing shortages and to get those rectified.”
Mr. Ciampa said the contract would provide what the union has failed to achieve through legislation in Albany. California is the only state that requires minimum ratios of nurses to patients in hospitals.
The landmark deal averted a strike that would have impacted patient care across multiple major New York City hospital systems and set a new precedent for nurse-to-patient staffing standards in New York State.
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