California Nurses Rally For Improvements to Patient Safety After Hospital Report

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Hundreds of nurses want state lawmakers to improve patient safety at California's hospitals more than a week after a national report found 37 percent of California hospitals earned low marks for patient safety.

Rideout Memorial in Marysville and Fremont Medical Center in Yuba City received D grades.

Most Sacramento-area hospitals earned As, though, including Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Sacramento, South Sacramento and Roseville, as well as Sutter Health's campuses and several other local hospitals.

The California Nurses Association believes that the hospital corporations are actually putting patients' lives at risk.

Hundreds of California nurses are taking their message to the streets, calling for more focus on patient care instead of the bottom line.

"The challenges that we're facing no matter what hospital you work for—Sutter, Kaiser, Dignity, Tenant—it's short staffing," said nurse Amy Glass.

They believe the short staffing is driven by California Hospital Association lobbyists hoping to save their corporate clients a buck at the expense of patients.

"From the hospital's perspective this all about economics. From our perspective it's about safe patient care," said nurse Katy Roemer.

The nurses are also hoping to get the ear of state lawmakers, marching to the steps of the Capitol, supporting various medical staff and patient care bills.

"We are in the hospital. We are seeing these patients. We are seeing the kind of care they can receive and we are here to stand up to provide that safe care in the hospitals," Roemer said.

The California Hospital Association issued a statement saying California hospitals are in compliance with staffing ratios.