A grassroots movement of working bedside and clinical nurses who volunteer their time to the NursesTakeDC movement. As professional nurses we are tired of patients being put in unsafe conditions in all healthcare settings all in the name of greed. We are tired of seeing our morally distressed colleagues leave the profession long before they should, as they  decide to no longer risk their license, due to unsafe staffing and poor working environments.

Having a set patient limit on the amount of patients that a nurse is forced to take provides a safer environment for patients and reduces cost in the long term for hospitals. A copious amount of studies prove that more patients per nurse result in a higher mortality rate. Studies also show that there is a long term cost benefit to hospitals due to better nurse retention, decreased occupational injuries, and lessened complications in the hospital.

It is time for nurses to stand together, support each other, and demanded that Washington hear the voices of the largest workforce in the United States-Nurses. Washington doesn’t understand that it is their families, their health, their constituents that we are fighting to protect! The legislation for national nurse to patient ratios has been stalled in the legislative process by big money and associations that do not care about our profession. We must let Washington know that no amount of money can drown out the passion of a fed up nurses.