OAKLAND, CA – As many as 13,000 registered nurses from hospitals throughout California issued a one-day strike notice Friday over patient care shortcomings at their facilities.
According to the California Nurses Association, the key sticking point is safe nurse-to-patient staffing. The CNA says the hospitals' proposals leave serious patient care issues unaddressed, including the need for safe staffing at all times, even during nurse meal and rest breaks.
In November 2009, a neutral fact-finder chosen by the University of California and CNA made contract recommendations concerning staffing and benefit protections. The university has not followed those recommendations, the CNA charges.
The CNA notes, for example, that internal staffing documentation at UC Davis Medical Center found that one-third of nursing shifts were short one or more RNs in each unit than what was required by the individual patient acuities on those shifts.
The nurses union wants to strengthen enforcement of the state’s legally mandated staffing ratios.
"We are often short staffed and there is no break relief coverage,” said Shirley Toy, an RN and member of the bargaining team at UC Davis. “We need break relief RNs on every shift on every unit. Our patients deserve uninterrupted patient care when RNs are on break or lunch.”
The RNs come from five University of California Medical Centers – San Diego, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento – as well as four other facilities: Citrus Valley Medical Center (Covina, Calif.), San Pedro Hospital (San Pedro, Calif.), Marina del Rey Medical Center (Los Angeles) and Olympia Medical Center (Los Angeles).
