Standing for Safety, Standing for Each Other
Every nurse knows what it feels like to give everything — to keep moving when you haven’t eaten, to stay steady when emotions rise, to hold a hand when words fall short.
We show up because we care. But no one can pour from an empty cup.
Safe staffing isn’t about numbers on a chart; it’s about honoring the humanity in every shift — for patients and for us. When a nurse has enough support to breathe, every patient receives safer, calmer, more present care.
I’ve seen the toll it takes when the system asks too much, and I’ve seen the light that returns when balance is restored. HB 106 is more than a bill — it’s a promise that caring for others should never cost you your health, your peace, or your purpose.
This is why I stand — for the nurses beside me, for the patients we love, and for a future where compassion doesn’t burn out, it burns brighter.
Safe Staffing in Pennsylvania — Quick Facts & How to Act
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Every shift, a nurse walks in to alarms ringing and heart monitors buzzing — not even clocked in yet, already planning how to keep patients safe for the next 12 hours. Too often, they’re called to be in several places at once. But they are just one person. They cannot silence the heart monitor that’s been alarming while a patient down the hall struggles to breathe, or quickly reach the patient who is suffering because medications are delayed. Unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios force these impossible choices and can delay life-saving care.
And for the nurses who go home after long shifts caring for too many patients at a time, there’s quiet suffering — replaying the past 12 hours and wondering if anyone was left unsafe. They deserve to end the day knowing they gave safe care. Right now, many can’t.
HB 106 — the Patient Safety Act — would change that: so patients receive the safe care they deserve and nurses can stay and thrive in the work they love.
This bill already passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (the first big vote) but is stalled in the State Senate. If the Senate doesn’t bring it up for a vote, it dies there.
Your voice — especially as a nurse or someone who cares about safe care — can push it forward: call, email, and share your story so senators feel the urgency to act.
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→ ICU : 1 nurse for 2 patients
→ Tele/ Step-down: 1 nurse for 3 patients (Telemetry = units where most or all patients are on heart monitors. Mixed med-surg units with only one or two telemetry patients follow med-surg ratios.)
→ Med-Surg: 1 nurse for 4 patients (up to 5 only if all are low-acuity and the staffing plan allows it)
→ Emergency Dept: 1 nurse for 4 patients (1 for 1 if it’s a trauma)
→ Operating Room: 1 nurse for 1 patient
→ PACU / Recovery: 1 nurse for 2 patients
→ Psych inpatient: 1 nurse for 4 patients
→ L&D: 1:1 active labor; 1:2 immediate postpartum; 1:3 antepartum; 1:5 well-baby
→ Pediatrics: 1 nurse for 3 patients
These are maximums — hospitals can always staff better or add more nurses if needed.
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✵ Hospitals must make and share a staffing plan.
The plan must be reviewed every year and include nurse-patient ratios, overtime hours worked, and nurse-sensitive quality indicators — data that shows whether care is truly safe.
✵ Staffing levels become public info.
✵Nurses get legal protection under “Safe Harbor” if they refuse unsafe assignments or report problems
✵ Hospitals can be fined if they repeatedly ignore the rules.
✵ Flexibility for true disasters or mass emergencies.
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~148,000 registered nurses are actively working in Pennsylvania (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics / O*NET, 2022)
Nearly 300,000 nurses (RNs and LPNs) hold a Pennsylvania license — but many are not working in direct care (Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders)
Over 80,000 nurses of working age are licensed in PA but not working at the bedside because of unsafe conditions and burnout (Nurses of Pennsylvania)
This shows the crisis isn’t just “not enough nurses exist.” Tens of thousands are trained, licensed, and choosing to leave direct care. Safer staffing can bring them back.
How to act — 4 clear steps
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Step 1 — Know what’s happening
The bill cleared the House. It’s now sitting in the State Senate. If the Senate doesn’t vote on it, it dies. The most direct impact you can make is to ask your own State Senator to support and push for a vote.
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Step 2 — Find your Senator
Enter your address. It will show your State Senator and State Representative.
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Step 3 — Call or email your State Senator
By Phone (takes under 2 min):
Hi, I’m [Name], a nurse in [Town]. Please support HB 106, the Patient Safety Act. Safe staffing protects patients and keeps nurses at the bedside. I urge you to help move it to a vote in the Senate.By Email (takes 3–5 min):
Subject: Please support the Patient Safety Act (HB 106)
Dear Senator [Last Name],
I’m a nurse in [Town/ZIP]. I’m asking you to support HB 106 and help get it to a vote in the Senate. Safe nurse-to-patient ratios save lives and keep nurses in the profession.
This change would bring hope back to nursing — helping us stay and drawing new nurses to the bedside.
Thank you for standing with patients and nurses.
Extra push: You can also contact members of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee (they control whether the bill moves forward)
The Future We Deserve…
Imagine this future —
You begin your shift to a single alarm, not dozens. You walk the floor with intention and a sense of calm focus — able to notice, to teach, and to prevent crises before they even begin. You’re not pulled in three directions at once. You pause to truly listen when a patient asks, “Do you think I’m going to get any better?” — and even when you can’t answer with words, you answer with your time and presence.
After your shift, you leave without collapse-fatigue or regret. You reflect on the day knowing you gave safe care and no one was left unheard and unsafe.
Across Pennsylvania, turnover slows. Nurses who once left return, drawn by the promise of doing good work without being broken. Hospitals grow more stable. Patients get more time, more care, more safety.
That’s what passing HB 106 can begin to create — a future where compassion doesn’t burn out, it burns brighter. Talk about it with your friends, coworkers, your family. The more nurses speak about the future they want, the more momentum builds to make it real. What seems impossible can become possible — California has already proved it. Pennsylvania can be next.
