Registered nurses will hold an informational picket and rally on Friday morning to urge the hospital to consistently comply with its own staffing plan to improve the recruitment and retention of experienced RNs.
 
“It is very important for the hospital to consistently comply with its staffing plan. That is the best way to provide safe quality care, which is our priority as nurses," said Kathy Gosset an RN in the Labor and Delivery Unit. "It also makes it more likely that nurses can take rest and meal breaks so that we can remain alert and focused when attending our patients," said Gosset who has been an RN for 15 years.

What: Registered nurses hold informational picket and rally
When: Friday, August 21 - 6:30 a.m.- 8:30 a.m. Rally: 8:00 - 8:15 a.m.
Where: Corpus Christi Medical Center (Bay Area Medical Center, Heart Hospital) on Rodd Field Road.
 
According to the most recent data provided by the hospital covering the month of December 2014, it is regularly out of compliance with its own staffing plan. For example, in the Women's Services Department, which includes several units, staffing was out of compliance 37% of the time. The Antepartum (2E) unit, where women who have complications in pregnancy are cared for, was out of compliance 47 out of 62 shifts. That means that 76% of the time the unit had less staff than the staffing plan (or matrix) indicates it should have.  The OBGYN-PPU Unit (2E) was out of compliance 18 of 62 shifts or 29% of the time.
 
When the hospital is out of compliance with its staffing plan nurses are more likely to miss rest and meal breaks. Research shows that these breaks are vital to prevent fatigue that contributes to medical errors and injury to patients and staff. According to the hospital's data, in a recent 3- month period, RNs providing direct patient care hospital-wide missed 59% of their meal breaks. In the OBGYN Antepartum unit at BAMC, nurses missed 65% of their meal breaks. In the Women's Services Department over all, nurses missed 50% of their meal breaks. The CCMC nurses regularly work 12-hour shifts and miss their rest and meal breaks because there are no relief nurses to take care of their patients.
 
CCMC nurses are recommending that the hospital improve its staffing plan compliance by improving the recruitment and retention of experienced RNs. To do this, nurses are calling on CCMC to establish a guaranteed wage scale that provides a fair and equitable raise based on years of service. CCMC can play a leadership role in Texas, nurses say, by aligning their wages with the national average. Currently RNs in Texas are paid $3.00 below the national average and although it is the second largest state it ranks only 18th in terms of RN wages. 
                            
The 500 registered nurses at CCMC, affiliated with the National Nurses Organizing Committee, NNOC/TX are in ongoing contract negotiations with CCMC and their contract expired June 31, 2015. NNOC/TX is affiliated with National Nurses United, the largest organization of registered nurses in the United States with 186,000 members.