Nurses picket Southern California hospitals, demand more staffing

0

Registered nurses at six Southern California hospitals picketed their facilities Thursday, Jan 26 as part of a nationwide call for increased staffing amid a winter surge of RSV, influenza and COVID-19 patients.

The employees — represented by the California Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United — held local protests at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center and PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, Community Hospital of San Bernardino and Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

Additional California rallies were held in San Francisco and Oakland, as well as in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New York and Texas.

‘Crisis conditions’

Nurses say a decades-long trend of fewer in-patient beds and insufficient staffing has led to “crisis conditions.”

Clayton Dezan, who works in the behavioral health unit at Community Hospital of San Bernardino, said the hospital often fails to call in nurses who are needed because management wants to keep overtime costs down.

“We deal with violence in this unit,” the 52-year-old San Bernardino resident said. “We have patients who are a danger to themselves and others. We want enough staffing so we can give patients the care they deserve.”

Dezan said care is often delayed, and in some cases denied, as a result of short staffing.

In a statement issued Thursday, a spokesperson at the San Bernardino facility said hospitals across the country have seen a rise in violence.

“We are currently reviewing all safety measures to ensure a safe environment for everyone who enters our facility,” the statement said.

The hospital acknowledged that COVID-19 has led to a shortage of clinical and non-clinical staff members — especially nurses.

“To address this challenge, we have partnered with nursing and trade schools across the state to grow and diversify our workforce,” management said.

Nurses at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center also participated in Thursday’s call for increased staffing. (Photo courtesy of the California Nurses Association/NNU)

Tinny Abogado, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, said she often works 12 hours without a break.

“When there aren’t enough nurses to cover the number of patients we have, some of us will have more patients than mandated by the law,” the 48-year-old San Dimas resident said. “We put our patients in jeopardy due to fatigue from lack of breaks.”

More nurses coming

A Kaiser spokesman said the hospital is addressing staffing issues.

“Our commitment to being the best place for nurses to work has enabled Kaiser Permanente Southern California to hire about 2,700 additional nurses since 2021,” the hospital said. “We are committed to hiring hundreds more additional nurses, through aggressive recruitment and expedited hiring.”

Kaiser stressed that Thursday’s rally was not a strike and would not disrupt patient care or operations at the hospital.

Inadequate staffing has become a common complaint among Southern California nurses. Several rallies and protests have been held in recent months as workers lobby for increased staffing levels.

Nurses and other healthcare workers staged a rally at West Hills Hospital & Medical Center earlier this month to protest understaffing at the more than 150 hospitals HCA Healthcare owns throughout the U.S.

Nurses at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank picketed the hospital in December, claiming they are short-staffed, and healthcare employees at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital launched a five-day strike on Dec. 12, claiming they are underpaid and understaffed to the point where patient care is being compromised.

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest  Business News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Rapidtelecast.com is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
Leave a comment