Nurses Cite Safe Staffing, Patient Care Concerns

Some 1,550 registered nurses who work at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) are preparing to hold a one-day strike April 30. UCMC will be preventing nurses from returning to work for an additional four days following the strike.

Contract talks between the nurses and hospital administration Thursday failed to resolve key differences on staffing, and the Hospital’s refusal to end the unsafe practice of forcing nurses to work a combination of both rotating day shifts and night shifts in each six week schedule.
 
“UCMC nurses have raised grave concerns about staffing levels at UCMC,” said Operating Room RN Dawn Peckler.  “When nurses are crying out that staffing levels are endangering patient care, it’s unconscionable for the hospital to propose to further reduce the experienced clinical RNs that are available to provide care to patients.”  
 
The Chicago RNs, members of National Nurses United, will be among 6,400 RNs who will be on strike during the week demanding their hospitals implement safe staffing levels and take steps to retain experienced RNs. The remaining strikes are at California hospitals.  
 
What:             One-day strike, Thursday, April 30. Strike begins 7 a.m., rally at 12 noon
Where:           University of Chicago Medical Center, April 30. 5841 S. Maryland Avenue (corner of E.  58th and Maryland). Rally, 12 noon.

(Media availability in advance of the strike is also set for Wednesday, April 29, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the University Church, 5655 S University Ave, where RNs will finalize strike preparations)
 
“Across the country, nurses are unified in insisting that hospitals improve RN staffing which far too often is compromising patient safety and other patient protections,” said NNU Co-President Karen Higgins, RN. Other issues at many of the hospitals include hospital demands for cuts in nurses’ health care and other policies that hurt the retention of experienced RNs.

Key issues at the University of Chicago Medical Center are:

Safe staffing: RNs want a limit on how many patients each nurse can be assigned to care for based on the particular area of the hospital, such as the emergency room, intensive care, or labor and delivery. The RNs are also proposing an increase in “patient care support nurses” to assist when nursing units are overwhelmed or during emergencies.

Rotating shifts: Nurses propose elimination of assignments that force them to “rotate” back and forth between night and day shifts, a scheduling pattern that leaves RNs less mentally alert, increases the risk of medication and other errors that is a risk to patient safety, and has led to some nurses falling asleep while driving home from shifts. The RNs propose all nurses have a regular permanent shift with no rotating.

Charge nurses: Charge nurses make sure there are a safe number of nurses for patient care on their unit, respond to emergencies like cardiac arrests, and serve as a clinical resource for less experienced RNs in assessing, for example, if a patient should be moved to intensive care or can appropriately be discharged home. UCMC wants to replace charge nurses with administrative managers whose decisions are likely to be based on budget goals, not patient need. RNs believe this would significantly shortchange clinical care and compromise patient care delivery.

“University of Chicago nurses are standing together to end the unsafe practice of rotating shifts, to keep staffing advocacy in the hands of bedside clinical nurses and to improve staffing conditions for our patients and the community,” said Burn Unit RN Talisa Hardin, one of 1,550 RNs at the hospital.