Nurses at Aroostook Medical Center (TAMC) in Presque Isle voted by an overwhelming majority on Wednesday to authorize a three-day strike, Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA) announced today.

Nurses say key issues fueling the potential strike include safe patient staffing, and the recruitment and retention of experienced nurses. Since bargaining began in April, MSNA has agreed to extend the contract several times, in order to reach agreement, but nurses say negotiations with management are at a standstill—and critical concerns have not been addressed.

“TAMC is unable to recruit and retain enough staff to fill all of the shifts throughout the medical center,” said Union Chief Steward and Bargaining Team member Kim Cooper, RN. “This means they are paying for a lot of extra-time and overtime, paying for expensive, out of state ‘travelers,’ or worse, having the nurses work so short staffed that the ratio of patients to nurses becomes overwhelming. This is not only dangerous, but does not make sense for our community.”

Numerous studies have shown that strong nurse-to-patient ratios improve patient outcomes, protect hospital staff and reduce nurse burnout. A 2014 study published by Nursing Standard, for example, revealed that seven additional lives would be saved for every 100 Intensive Care Unit patients with improved nurse-to-patient ratios. Another study by Aiken and colleagues, in the Journal of American Medicine, found statistically significant relationships between lower nurses-to-patient ratios and higher levels of RN dissatisfaction and burnout.

“Our intent is not to strike, but management needs to take action on this crisis,” said RN Lori McPherson, Bargaining Team member and chair of TAMC’s Professional Practice. “We cannot watch while there is the potential for unsafe conditions because we are being assigned patients at such severe levels of illness that they require focused care. We are not being staffed at a level where RNs are empowered to provide that top quality care—and the result is that patients are put at risk, and the hospital is having trouble recruiting and retaining experienced nurses, who are simply burned out.”

“We struggle to give our patients the care they deserve,” Cooper said. “Yes, TAMC is ‘more than a hospital,’ but only because the nurses and other hospital staff are going ‘above and beyond’ every single day.”

Nurses say they will return to the bargaining table, with management, on July 6. The contract expires July 7.