The largest health care workers strike in Oregon’s history continued through the weekend with little progress, as thousands of Providence Oregon nurses and doctors strike for higher pay and better working conditions.
The nurses union said nearly 5,000 nurses planned to walk out from all eight Providence hospitals in Oregon along with close to 150 physicians and advanced practitioners.
Talks had stalled out since the Oregon Nurses Association first delivered a 10-day strike notice to Providence. Providence executives said in a Saturday press conference that they were ready to talk federal mediators to start the process for returning to the negotiating table, after preparing for the strike’s potential impact on operations.
A potential strike between nurses and the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow system fits a post-pandemic pattern of nurses asking for more, which may now be a recurring feature of healthcare, a Wayne State University expert said. Ramona Benkert, Wayne State's nursing dean, said the pandemic played a major role in reshaping how nurses view themselves in the healthcare sector, highlighting their value while more is being asked of them.
Rochester Regional Health is working to cut its spending by temporarily closing hospital beds due to the latest result of a nursing shortage in the healthcare system. RGH President Tammy Snyder says recruitment went well in 2024. Now, hospital leaders are looking at what they can do to attract and retain nurses while cutting down on spending. That includes reducing how much the hospital spends on agency nurses. Snyder says every agency RN gets offered permanent employment or another opportunity at the hospital. Outside of that, RGH is working to attract the next generation of nurses. "We also are partnering with our local nursing schools. Those nursing students come to RGH as a part of their nursing training," said Snyder. "We wanna make sure that they have a fantastic experience with us so that they choose RGH as their employer after graduation."
Nurses are continuing to leave the workforce, and there aren’t enough graduates entering the nursing field to fill the gaps - this information was recently announced by the Maine Nursing Action Coalition.
Aroostook County is currently seeing a nursing shortage similar to the one it faced three years ago, however this shortage is expected to intensify by 2030, according to a report from the Cypress Research Group.
Part of the challenge is that a large portion of people in the nursing workforce are approaching retirement age and are expected to leave the profession within the next five years. On top of that, the younger population in Aroostook County is decreasing.
Providence Health warned state officials Monday that a looming strike involving thousands of nurses and physicians across multiple facilities will create a "significant risk" for health care in Oregon.
As a result, the hospital system will start limiting admissions at one of its Portland-area hospitals.
Health care workers represented by the Oregon Nurses Association plan to strike starting Friday morning after delivering a 10-day notice to Providence last week. ONA has said that this would be the largest health care worker strike in state history, and the first to include doctors.
In a statement, Providence chief executive Jennifer Burrows admitted that while striking nurses can be replaced with temporary workers, physicians can't to the same extent. The strike will include nurses at all eight Providence hospitals, but also extends to attending physicians, or hospitalists.
The largest impact will be on the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center campus, Providence said. Between 60 and 70 physicians there are expected to join the strike.
The union has claimed, in several complaints filed with the state, that staffing and equipment shortages are jeopardizing patient care at the company's three Massachusetts facilities.