will those hailed as Heroes during the pandemic today stepped away from the front lines of health care to join the picket line nurses protested in Trenton over continued frustrations with working conditions these were issues that were boiling prior to covid now nurses say they've reached their limit senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan was in Trenton and has the story State Staffing hundreds of nurses rallied at the State House in Trenton the RNs called a code red claiming their overworked understaffed and out of patients with New Jersey Health Care Systems that don't schedule enough nurses per shift they urged lawmakers to pass a bill setting mandatory minimum Staffing requirements especially in acute care settings like the ICU Health Care is in crisis hpae Union president Debbie White says the stressful working conditions not only endanger patients they make nurses quit which exacerbates an already critical nursing shortage there's a revolving door people come in they leave they come in they leave we have to make them put them into Humane working conditions where they are able to do their jobs properly it benefits not only them it benefits all of us the minute you become a patient it becomes your problem Senator Linda greenstein's co-sponsoring s304 a bill that would set forcible nursing staff ratios at different levels including one nurse for every five patients in medical surgical units a one nurse to four patient ratio in intermediate and emergency units and a one to two ratio in the ICU it makes exceptions for unforeseen emergencies the bills modeled on a California law enacted 19 years ago Studies have shown benefits for patients too for patients decreased likelihood of patient death decreased admissions to Critical Care improved patient outcomes improved patient satisfaction nurses and health care workers are not machines patients are not dollar signs and it is time for New Jersey to enact enforceable Staffing regulations it has worked in California I don't see why it can't work in New Jersey this is nurses say they've struggled with Staffing crises long before the pandemic that just made it worse but polls now show the profession is hemorrhaging nurses how many more mouses are we willing to lose is because nurses are fed up the work is too heavy patients are getting hurt nurses are getting hurt what is it going to take New Jersey's Hospital Association says that while it's incredibly grateful for the dedicated nurses we also realize the entire Workforce needs flexibility to appropriately respond in real time to the needs of their patients we're focused on identifying ways to expand the pipeline of nurses and other Health Care Professionals Health Care Systems have resisted mandatory Staffing saying ratios drive up costs unions aren't buying it unfortunately many of the hospitals are putting profit over people and the Quest for increasing profits is getting more and more and prioritized within the Health Care system in New Jersey the bill would task New Jersey's Department of Health with enforcing new Staffing ratios nurses have been working to get legislation like this passed for decades today they signed a petition asking Governor Murphy to support the bill and handed it off to his chief executive assistant in Trenton I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News [Music]