Nurses at Tri City Medical Center (TCMC) in Oceanside, Calif. will hold an informational picket on Thursday, April 24 to protest the Tri City Hospital District’s (TCHD) refusal to address concerns of registered nurses (RNs) about patient care and safe staffing, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU). Immediately following the picket, nurses will present a petition and a vote of no confidence to TCHD’s board of directors.

“TCMC executives need to be held accountable to nurses and the community it serves when they do not comply with agreed-upon staffing standards,” said Astrid Warner, RN in the progressive care unit. “Often, patients in the progressive care unit are left with just one RN trained in our specialty, because every other scheduled nurse gets sent to fill in short-staffing gaps in other units. Not only is this in violation of our union contract, it also means our unit’s patients are taken care of by nurses with different specializations. This is not safe or appropriate for our patients.”

What: Tri City Medical Center RNs’ informational picket and presentation of no confidence votes
When: Thursday, April 24, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Tri City Medical Center, 4002 Vista Way, Oceanside CA 92056 (lawn area near the main lobby hospital entrance)

TCMC nurses have been fighting for safer working conditions, including urging management to follow established protocols and procedures to guide safe staffing and safe practice on each unit. Conditions that led RNs to picket, and which were named in the nurses’ petition, include TCMC management’s failure to:

• Maintain necessary compliance with Title 22 and safe staffing regulations;
• Provide a safe working environment free from workplace violence; and
• Implement pay practices that address the recruitment and retention of experienced nurses for all units.

Nurses have filed formal complaints with the California Department of Public Health, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), and other regulatory agencies as they experience increases in violence, understaffing, and workplace hazards. When staffing is inadequate, nurses and patients are at greater risk of hazards, including workplace violence incidents. 

“Signing onto a petition declaring no confidence in TCMC’s management is not a decision nurses made lightly,” said Cathy Cronce, RN who works in the post-anesthesia recovery area. “We have tried to work with management to address the issues that impact nurses and our ability to provide quality care. Our priority is our patients and we know they deserve better standards from TCMC.” 

California Nurses Association (CNA) represents nearly 500 nurses at Tri City Medical Center. ​​CNA notified TCMC on April 18 that nurses would hold an informational picket on April 24. This informational picket is not a strike.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.