Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital Will No Longer Have Safety Sitters

Sparrow Hospital will no longer have safety sitters to prevent patients from falling out of bed or attend to basic needs.  Nurses at the hospital will pick up some of those duties.

But the Michigan Nurses Association says the change unnecessarily endangers patients.  Safety sitters now are restricted to patients who are considered suicide risks "to better utilize resources," said John Foren, Sparrow's director of media and public relations.

If a patient still requires and qualifies for a sitter, Foren said, a member of the nursing staff will be assigned instead, who have more training.

The Michigan Nurses Association labeled the restructuring as staff cuts and said in a news release that the policy change can put the elderly, dementia and other vulnerable patients in unnecessary danger.  There's more in the Lansing State Journal.