Staffing is always on nurses’ minds. It’s a concern we face the moment we step into work. We may ask ourselves, “Are we and our patients safe?” and, if not, “Do we have the evidence to support why an assignment may feel unsafe?” Knowing that these are concerns of each and every medical-surgical nurse, AMSN is committed to supporting members by updating the current staffing statement and upholding safe staffing standards.

We all know that achieving safe staffing in medical-surgical nursing is imperative for the well-being of patients and nurses alike. As the staffing crisis continues in the United States, many nurse organizations have been working — and continue to work — to identify and mitigate the myriad factors contributing to the current and ongoing shortages in our profession. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the complex balancing act of safe staffing.

For a number of years, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has been focused on the issues surrounding staffing. In 2018, ANA pulled in four other organizations to form the Partners for Nurse Staffing group. The partners included the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL), the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). This group launched the Nurse Staffing Think Tank in 2022, which focused on actionable short-term solutions to mitigate the staffing crisis, specifically things that could be implemented in 12–18 months. The think tank laid out the five topics and recommendations they prioritized for the longer-term future of nurse staffing: healthy work environment; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); work schedule flexibility; stress injury continuum; innovative care delivery models; and total compensation.

Later that year, as the pandemic continued and nurse staffing shortages intensified, the Partners for Nurse Staffing Task Force was born. This group was larger and included nurses, hospital administrators, members of state boards of nursing, and patient advocates. The task force identified a list of imperatives that would ensure long-term, meaningful, and sustainable changes for nurse staffing. One imperative, “[e]stablish staffing standards that ensure quality care”, was supported by the recommendation that nursing specialty groups set the standards that apply to their specific practice area(s). Several organizations have already written and published safe staffing guidelines for their specialties.

AMSN responded to the ANA call to action and, in the fall of 2023, started planning to update its previously published statement on safe staffing. A call for volunteers was announced to members to carry out this important work. In February 2024, AMSN’s Medical-Surgical Nurse Staffing Task Force met for the first time, bringing together medical-surgical nurses from across the country.

The AMSN Medical-Surgical Nurse Staffing Task Force is a group of frontline nurses, nurse leaders, and nurse educators who tackle the challenges of acute-care nursing in different capacities each shift. The task of the AMSN Medical-Surgical Nurse Staffing Task Force is to review and revise the AMSN staffing standard. We have met regularly for over a year to evaluate the current evidence regarding staffing, discuss best practices, and craft a new standard of safe staffing for our fellow medical-surgical nurses. In addition, at last year’s convention in Toronto, we gathered feedback from attendees and members that informed our final product.

The recommendations focus on evidence largely drawn from the U.S. inpatient healthcare setting. As such, the scope of the recommendations is for acute-care inpatient nurses in the United States. However, the principles explored are of broad relevance to other practice settings.

Catch us live and in person at the 2025 AMSN Convention, Sept. 11–13 in Austin, Texas, to hear even more!

AMSN Medical-Surgical Staffing Task Force Members

Monica van der Zee BSN, RN, CMSRN, Chair
Kristi R. Campoe, Ph.D., RN, CMSRN, CPHQ, sMBA, Board Liaison
Kristine Arcadi
MaryLou Booher, BSN, RN, CMSRN
Marie Mullins, BSN, RN, CMSRN
DeLaura Padovan, BSN, RN, CMSRN
Nora Ann Sangirardi
Dorothy Syrocki Haag, EdD, RN
Sarah Varney