Registered nurses voted overwhelmingly to ratify new collective bargaining agreements covering nearly 8,000 RNs at 17 HCA-affiliated hospitals in five states, National Nurses United announced today.
 
The pacts affect RNs at ten HCA-affiliated hospitals in Florida, four in Texas, and one each in Missouri, Kansas, and Nevada.  HCA is the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States.
 
The agreements make substantial strides for working conditions for RNs, patient care standards and the quality of care at the 17 facilities as well as noteworthy economic gains.   All the RNs are represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) /National Nurses United (NNU) -- the largest organization of registered nurses in the country, with 185,000 members.

"The nurses are thrilled that our collective effort, spanning five states, yielded contracts that support quality patient care. As patient advocates we are very pleased with the results," said Brandie Stewart, RN, Emergency Department at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Fla.

 "We've won provisions that will improve recruitment and retention and that really supports our patients receiving the best possible care so we are very happy with the outcome," said Marissa Lee, Labor and Delivery Unit, Osceola Regional MC, Kissimmee, Fla.

Highlights of the agreements include:
 
•    Increased enforcement of staffing grids (matrices) that define staffing for safe patient care, including a requirement that RNs scheduled to work cannot be cancelled if it causes the hospital to be out of compliance with their staffing standards.
•    Pilot program to create break relief RNs enabling nurses to take meal and rest breaks.
•    Eight hours of rest for any RN after working a call shift before she can be called back to work to reduce nurse fatigue that can put nurses and patients at risk.
•    Improved health and safety language to strengthen protection for nurses and patients from workplace violence, the spread of infectious diseases, as well as patient handling procedures to reduce the risk of nurse injuries and patient falls and accidents.
•    Improved union and workplace rights for nurses, including a strengthened grievance procedure for disputes, rights to return to work after a leave of absence, and access to union representatives during orientation for new hires.
 
"One element we really like about this agreement is the pilot program to hire relief nurses to assure that nurses get their meal breaks. This new program assures that we can regularly take our meal breaks so we can return to our patients refreshed and ready to focus on providing them with the best care," said Cheryl Rodarmel, RN, Rehabilitation Unit, Research Medical Center, in Kansas City, Mo.

All the nurses covered by the agreements will be honored for their service with significant economic improvements that include increases that vary by location, of up to 15 percent over the life of the agreement, with additional increases at some facilities based on years of experience as an RN.
 
In the Southern States, where the wages are well below the national average for RN wages, the increases will bring wages closer to the national average, promoting retention of experienced nurses, and assisting with recruitment of new nurses for the hospitals.  For the Texas nurses, a new wage system will provide increased equity and more transparency, a major goal for the RNs.
 
"With the new contract we've won creation of a wage scale that acknowledges and rewards nurses' years of experience. This will curb turnover and encourage both new and experienced RNs to stay at Las Palmas," said Yadira Cabrera, RN Emergency Department, Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso, Tex.

 "The new wage scale acknowledges years of service and this is a big plus for patient care in every unit of the hospital including the ED where I work. In general the new contract will really help the hospital more consistently comply with its staffing grid," said Fred Flores, RN Emergency Department, Corpus Christi Medical Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

"Kansas is 45th in RN wages right now so we are pleased that this agreement leads the way for our state to align wages with the national average. This paves the way for Menorah to recruit and retain experienced RNs and that's a real win for our patients too," said Carolyn Lusby, RN, Medical/ Telemetry/PCU, Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kan.

"We worked hard for this contract and now we can't wait to see the positive impact it will have on a number of levels including staffing. This is key to quality care and that's why we're very pleased, " said Chris Garth, PACU, Mountain View Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev.

Nurses working at the following hospitals, all affiliated with Nashville-based HCA, are covered by the new contracts:
 
Florida:
Oak Hill Hospital, Brooksville
Osceola Medical Center in Kissimmee,
Medical Center of Trinity in Trinity  
Central Florida Research Hospital, Sanford
Largo Medical Center, Largo  
St. Petersburg General Hospital, St. Petersburg
Northside Hospital, St. Petersburg
Blake Medical Center, Bradenton
Fawcett Memorial Hospital, Port Charlotte
Doctors Hospital of Sarasota, Sarasota
 
Kansas: Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park, Kan.
 
Missouri: Research Medical Center, Kansas City, Mo.
 
Texas:
Corpus Christi Medical Center, Corpus Christi
Las Palmas Medical Center, El Paso
Del Sol Medical Center, El Paso
Valley Regional Medical Center, Brownsville
 
Nevada: Mountain View Hospital, Las Vegas