"Am I Patient 6?" Part 1

Let’s say you land in a well-known New York hospital for a medical procedure or an emergency. The hospital is housed in an expensive, new building. You take for granted that there will be enough nurses on duty. You shouldn’t. Too many New York hospitals cut corners on nurse staffing, with most patients not knowing that their risk of injury or death rises when a nurse-to-patient ratio increases — by even one patient — beyond 1:5. In a two-part series, “Am I Patient #6?”, UFT President Michael Mulgrew hears from front-line ER nurse Howard Sandau about the dangers patients face when hospitals refuse to properly staff units, and the need for New York to pass a safe staffing law.