Registered nurses will testify on deteriorating patient care conditions at Watsonville Community Hospital at the Watsonville City Council Tuesday night. The RNs are seeking the Council's support in demanding that Watsonville Community Hospital take immediate steps to restore patient care conditions at the hospital.

Watsonville RNs report that short staffing in the hospital has worsened over the past three months, with the hospital requesting that nurses work 16- hour shifts in some units, and nurses working without meals and breaks in many others.

The Critical Care Unit (or ICU) and the Perinatal Department, which includes the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Labor and Delivery and Mother Baby Units have been particularly hard hit due to the hospital's failure to hire adequate numbers of permanent staff to compensate for attrition and medical leaves. The Labor and Delivery Unit lost 24 experienced RNs in the past year and only one third of those positions have been filled, all with new graduates.

What: Nurses Testify on Deteriorating Conditions at Watsonville Community Hospital at Watsonville City Council

When: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 – 6:30 p.m.

Where: 275 Main Street, Watsonville, CA

This week's action in Watsonville comes as part of a nationwide effort to address patient safety concerns within the Community Health Systems chain of hospitals. With more than 200 hospitals and 31,000 beds in 29 states, CHS is the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country; many of the chain’s hospitals are located in small communities like Watsonville where they are the only option for residents.

“16-hour shifts without breaks, or crucial support staff, or acknowledgment of registered nurses professional experience is never a recipe for safe patient care,” said Watsonville RN Roseann Farris. “The RNs of Watsonville Community Hospital demand that CHS provide adequate staffing for safe patient care.”

The nurses are asking the Watsonville City Council to support their demand that Watsonville Community Hospital take immediate steps to restore safe staffing levels, resume accepting "ADO's," nurses' documentation of unsafe patient care conditions, and agree to a fair and safe contract with the nurses.

“Anytime hospital management eliminates check and balance systems,” said Jennifer Holm, a Watsonville RN, “patient safety is at risk. CHS’s chronic short-staffing at our community hospital, particularly in critical care and transitional areas, is just one serious example of what happens when there is less accountability for nurses’ working conditions, and professional concerns. Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital will not be silenced over working conditions that affect patient safety.”

Registered nurses at Watsonville and four other CHS hospitals—Barstow Community Hospital in California, Affinity Medical Center in Ohio, and Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and Bluefield Regional Medical Center in West Virginia—have documented unsafe conditions for more than two years.

The principal issue is unsafe staffing levels, which studies have shown are the biggest factor in patient mortality rates. Compounding unsafe staffing levels is the inadequate training for RNS using the electronic health record systems, which results in more time processing paperwork, and less monitoring patients.

Next week, on March 16th, RN’s at Affinity Medical Center will attend their local city council meeting to introduce a resolution in support of staffing at their hospital. Nurses at other facilities in California and West Virginia will rally at their facilities in support of actions at Watsonville and Affinity.