In response to nurses' requests, 22 Illinois State Representatives signed a letter to the Illinois Department of Public Health, urging the department to ensure that Illinois hospitals provide accurate, detailed and comprehensive data about nurse staffing -including a unit-by-unit breakdown.

Aggregate data on the total number of nurses and patients can identify staffing trends, but nurses are calling for unit-level data in order to have an accurate account of staffing levels at the bedside.  They believe this information will help make it clear to lawmakers that action is needed to protect patient safety and improve working conditions for nurses.  

Under the recently-implemented Hospital Report Card Act, Illinois hospitals are required to provide nurse staffing, hospital infection and quality monitoring data to the Department of Public Health, which plans to make it available on a Department website in October.  The RN2RN network will monitor the information and keep nurses informed.  To see a copy of the letter and more information about the Hospital Repost Card Act, go to www.RN2RN.org