In their third walkout, New Orleans nurses say chronic understaffing and violence in the workplace are only getting worse.
With Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” as a soundtrack, nurses at New Orleans’s University Medical Center walked off the job for the third time, picketing along the city’s Canal Street thoroughfare earlier this month.
“We will picket, shout, bargain, petition, and strike again, and again, and again until the nurses win the first contract!” Terry Mogilles, an orthopedic trauma clinic nurse, told a rapt crowd on May 1. The crowd comprised about 100 nurses and their supporters, with many of the nurses wearing scrubs or red shirts with white lettering reading “We Will Strike for Our Patients!” Mogilles and roughly 600 University Medical Center nurses voted to unionize with National Nurses United in December 2023. They are in their 16th month of union representation but say their employer is stalling on a contract that would actually improve their jobs.
Observers say nurses may be waiting even longer. On average, healthcare unions go around 17 months before obtaining first contracts. Today, the nurses not only have to overcome their employer’s resistance but also the downstream effects of the Trump administration’s policy changes.
From the bedside to the forefront, nurses are leading the way as part of the Professional Governance Group at AdventHealth.
It’s a new concept rooted in an idea that sprouted after the COVID-19 pandemic. A small panel of nurses began meeting in 2022 to address the burnout and retention issues happening in the nursing industry at that time. Now, AdventHealth has expanded the concept by adding 40 nurses to their Professional Governance Group.
Nurses at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital will rally on Tuesday to demand better staffing levels in Plattsburgh.
The New York State Nurses Association claims safe staffing thresholds have been lowered over the years as the University of Vermont Health Network faces a workforce shortage. The hospital has struggled with staff retention since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, CVPH operated at a loss of $7 million.
The rally comes as UVMMC faces widespread budget restrictions after it exceeded the revenues allowed by the Green Mountain Care Board.
Minneapolis College hosted a “pinning ceremony” for its nursing program graduates recently — a ritual that confirmed their commitment to the profession.
It included a circle of Native American drummers performing an honor song to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of four graduating class members, Native American women who plan to become nurses. Minneapolis College officials and the women themselves believe their success will draw other Native Americans into the nursing profession over time as the four nurses become role models for future generations.
Health care unions continue to rally for legislation to address understaffing they say strains hospitals and threatens both patient safety and staff well-being.
Lawmakers are considering the Hospital Worker Staff and Safety bill, which would establish mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and increase support for underfunded hospitals. The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 21 and House Bill 3512, aims to establish minimum staffing ratios in hospitals and fund critical safety-net hospitals across the state. Advocates with health care worker unions have been holding a series of rallies at the Capitol in support of the legislation in recent weeks.
Legislation to allow nurses with advanced training to practice independently has overcome objections that led the measure to be vetoed twice in the last four years, the Assembly’s health committee heard Tuesday.
AB 257 would create a new health care professional category of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). APRNs would include certified nurse-midwives, certified registered nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners.
Under the bill, an APRN would be permitted to practice on their own after working under the supervision of a medical doctor.