Nurse Staffing

Submit hospital nurse staffing plans as a PDF attachment to the following email: nursestaffing@doh.wa.gov.

Department guidance for submitting nurse staffing plans:

• Hospitals should include their facility name, the date of the plan, and indicate if the plan being submitted is a “Partial Update” or “Comprehensive Update.”
• Staffing plans developed for various hospital units should be compiled into a single comprehensive nurse staffing plan and converted into a single PDF file. Please no WORD or Excel files – only a single PDF.
• If hospitals update staffing plans for one or more units throughout the year, please insert the updated unit plans into the overall comprehensive plan and submit to DOH as a single PDF (these should be labeled “Partial Update”)
• When developing your plans, please make formatting, language, and labeling choices that best assists hospital staff as well as the public in understanding the details.
• After submitting your plan, check the Hospital Policies webpage in about two week to verify your plan has been posted. Please send an email to nursestaffing@doh.wa.gov if your plan hasn't been posted or there are errors needing correction.

See previously submitted policies on the Hospital Policies webpage. Select the specific hospital(s).

To sign up for ongoing updates regarding nurse staffing, select the green "Subscribe" button at the bottom of the page.

In an effort to support implementation and to ensure success under the law, the Washington State Hospital Association, Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare 1199NW, and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 21 came together in 2018 to form The Nurse Staffing Coalition. Over the past year, the Coalition has developed guidance documents for hospitals to use to meet the law's requirements. The guidance documents include:

• Nurse Staffing Committee Checklist: Includes key elements of nurse staffing committees, including composition, primary responsibilities, staffing plan development, and implementation of the plan.
• Sample Nurse Staffing Committee Charter
• Nurse Staffing Plan Minimum Criteria: Core elements of the nurse staffing plan (matrix by unit and shift) recommended for submission to Department of Health.
• Sample Attestation Form: Signed by the hospital CEO attesting that the nurse staffing plan submitted to the Department of Health was developed in accordance with the law.
• Staffing Complaint Form: Used to submit complaints to nurse staffing committees and to document nurse staffing committee responses to complaints.
• Assessing and Evaluating Complaints: Tool to help nurse staffing committees assess and evaluate complaints, including a decision tree outlining the process.
• Complaint Tracking Tool: Form to help nurse staffing committees track complaints, the resolution, and the timeframes in which complaints were received and resolved.

The guidance documents are on Coalition members' websites, linked below on the organization name. We encourage you to contact members of the Nurse Staffing Coalition for more information.

WSHA
Trish Anderson
Senior Director of Safety and Quality
trisha@WSHA.org
206-216-2524

WSNA
Anne Tan Piazza
Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives
apiazza@wsna.org
206-575-7979, ext. 3006

SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW
Jane Hopkins
Executive Vice President
janeh@seiu1199nw.org
425-917-1199

UFCW 21
Samantha Grad
Political and Legislative Organizer
sgrad@ufcw21.org
206-436-6558

RCW 70.41.425 allows DOH to investigate only complaints that relate to one or more of the following:

• The hospital did not form or establish a staffing committee.
• The hospital did not conduct a semiannual review of a nurse staffing plan.
• The hospital did not submit a nurse staffing plan in the previous twelve months or did not submit any updated plan it developed throughout the year.
• The hospital did not follow the nursing personnel assignments in a patient care unit or shift-to-shift adjustments in staffing levels.

If you are submitting a complaint, make sure you include documented evidence that supports your allegation. Complaints submitted without supporting evidence or data will be closed with the reason code of “insufficient information.” The complainant will be notified that the complaint has been closed, and will have the option to submit follow-up data for reconsideration.

You can submit your nurse staffing complaint by using the department's standard healthcare facilities complaint process.

If the department determines that a nurse staffing complaint warrants an investigation, it will use the following investigative process (PDF).