TODAY
Candlelight Vigil to Highlight Nurses’ Growing Concerns  

 
Registered nurses and Marin community members will hold a candlelight vigil at Marin General Hospital today to highlight growing concerns over unsafe staffing levels and reductions in the quality of patient care, California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced.

“Hospital management needs to recommit itself to our patients and the nurses. Patient safety is too often compromised at our hospital by cutbacks,” said Virginia Currie, an RN in the Cardiac Specialty Unit. “The public deserves a community hospital that treats its nurses fairly and provides the highest care to its patients.”
 
Nurses point out that their concerns are reflected in the recent penalties against Marin General, for the second year in a row, by the federal government for having high rates of potentially avoidable infections and complications such as blood clots, bedsores and falls. The penalties will result in lower reimbursement rates for the hospital, as part of Medicare’s Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program, which was mandated by the federal health law to reduce patient injuries.

“It’s a serious problem for the community when even the federal government is saying, ‘Yes, there problems at Marin General which could have been avoided,’” said Barb Ryan, RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. “Financial penalties don’t truly make up for a patient who had to endure bedsores from not being rotated often enough, all because cutbacks left us under staffed.”
 
What:             Candlelight Vigil—RNs, Community Members Demand Improved Patient Care
When:            Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 – 5 p.m.
Where:           Marin General Hospital, 250 Bon Air Rd, Greenbrae, CA 94904
 
Specific issues the nurses are calling on the hospital to address are:

Unsafe staffing levels: Nurses are calling on the hospital to comply with the state’s minimum staffing laws. Due to insufficient staff, the hospital is too often in violation of these laws when nurses have a high number of very ill patients, say nurses.
 
Insufficient breaks: Additionally, nurses continue to call on the hospital for adequate meal and rest breaks. Studies have shown that inadequate breaks and resulting fatigue can compromise patient care—and can negatively affect the health and safety of nurses.
 
“Sitters” needed for at-risk patients. Nurses are also demanding that the hospital bring back “sitters.” Sitters are hospital staff that watch patients at risk of falling and injuring themselves. Due to cutbacks, the hospital has increased the use of physical restraints on patients, many of whom are elderly or suffer from mental illness.
 
“We need more staff to assist with patients who are at risk of falling,” said Virginia Currie. “Marin has a high elderly population, and their safety is our top priority—but the use of restraints for at-risk patients, who otherwise could be watched by sitters, is not the kind of dignified care our community deserves. “
 
“We will be outside on Wednesday night, with candles in hand, because we want to shine a light on patient care concerns at Marin General,” said Sheryl Santon, RN in the Emergency Department. “Even these recent penalties by the federal government highlight that the issues are avoidable. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our nurses are calling on the hospital to do better.”