Unsafe medical staffing is contributing to workplace injuries, burnout, and putting lives at stake1.

For every additional patient a nurse cares for, a patient's risk of dying increases by as much as 7%2.

Patients and healthcare workers alike need safe staffing ratios, because safe staffing saves lives3.

The Joint Commission has worked for 70 years to drive "quality improvement and patient safety in healthcare," and has implemented numerous patient safety initiatives and quality metrics4. However, The Joint Commission's quality standards do not guarantee adequate patient to worker staffing ratios for any discipline5.

With this evidence that safe staffing improves patient care and decreases mortality, Florida nurse Blake Lynch, BSN, RN6, known on social media as "Nurse Blake" has called on The Joint Commission to:

1. Immediately require safe staffing ratios for all levels and settings of care, with noncompliance to these ratios being held as a barrier to accreditation
2. Immediately develop a task force that includes currently practicing clinical providers of all disciplines to determine appropriate staffing ratios for each discipline and care setting based on existing research and clinical experience
3. Develop and make publicly available an annual report, based on payroll data, of individual hospitals' compliance with mandated ratios
4. Develop and disseminate objective and peer-reviewed research on the impact of staffing ratios on workers and patients for all healthcare disciplines
5. Transparently partner with any and all relevant organizations (state, federal, and professional) to achieve these goals and ensure the prioritization of patient safety over stakeholder profit.

The failures of the Joint Commission's accreditation process are putting lives at risk. If this organization is to advocate for patient safety, they must also advocate for safe, evidence-based staffing ratios for hospital workers and care providers of all disciplines.

Help us demand accountability from the organizations that protect us. Sign the petition and tell The Joint Commission to require safe staffing ratios for organizations seeking accreditation and certification!

More on this issue:

1. Robert King, Fierce Healthcare (15 April 2022), "National Nurses United survey shows spikes in workplace violence, staffing issues remain."
2. Linda H Aiken, PhD, Douglas M Sloane, PhD, Luk Bruyneel, MS, Koen Van den Heede, PhD, Peter Griffiths, PhD, Reinhard Busse, MD, Marianna Diomidous, PhD, Juha Kinnunen, PhD, Maria Kózka, PhD, Emmanuel Lesaffre, PhD, Matthew D McHugh, PhD, M T Moreno-Casbas, PhD, Anne Marie Rafferty, PhD, Rene Schwendimann, PhD, P Anne Scott, PhD, Carol Tishelman, PhD, Theo van Achterberg, PhD, Walter Sermeus, PhD, Lancet (24 May 2014), "Nurse staffing and education and hospital mortality in nine European countries: a retrospective observational study."
3. American Nurse (11 June 2008), "Safe staffing saves lives."
4. The Joint Commission (2022), "Patient Safety."
5. Department for Professional Employees (2019), "Safe Staffing: Critical for Patients and Nurses."
6. Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune (15 March 2022), "Social media influencer Nurse Blake is petitioning the Illinois-based Joint Commission for safer nurse staffing at hospitals."