Unlike in high-profile strikes such as that of the United Auto Workers in 2023, however, the nurses sought more than improvements to their jobs.
They wanted a first contract negotiated by their union—the very document that establishes ground rules for improving their jobs. In the process, they joined a nationwide surge in short, precontract strikes following a spate of union organizing.
When UMC nurses won their fight to unionize last December, battling a lack of supplies and staffing even as hospital revenue soared, “I expected the negotiations wouldn’t be swift, but not that they would take this long,” said Webster. The victory put them among the ranks of well over 100,000 workers who have unionized in the last few years amid a significant rise in organizing. Yet experts report it’s normal for workers to successfully unionize but struggle to secure a contract without a lengthy second battle.
Demel and Cara Gibbons are registered nurses at MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital who are certified as Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.
They talked about the importance of forensic medical exams for victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. They also said there's new funding available for more training in Washington.
Along with providing trauma-informed and culturally responsive medical treatment and care, SANE nurses are trained to recognize and know the physical signs of abuse and potential complications. They collect and document evidence of physical or sexual abuse that may be used in a court case or police proceedings, and ask the victim about the abuse.
There is a well-documented, urgent need for nurses both in Missouri and throughout the country – according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 42 out of the 50 U.S. states will likely experience shortages in nursing staff by the year 2030.
With those projected shortages on the horizon, the need for highly trained faculty to prepare those entering the nursing workforce is critical.
In order to meet that need, the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri–St. Louis plans to launch a new nurse educator program designed to increase the educational preparation of Missouri nursing faculty with BSN degrees. The Missouri State Board of Nursing recently awarded the College of Nursing $519,050 in Nursing Education Incentive Program funding that will be used to develop a 12-credit online graduate nurse educator certificate program launching in 2026.
The VR program UbiSim lets nursing students improve their diagnostic and people skills by practicing on virtual patients. With UbiSim, students wearing inexpensive Meta Quest VR headsets enter an immersive 3-D simulation of a hospital. There, the students learn to treat a diverse array of simulated patients facing a multitude of medical crises. For Shawn Boom, CEO of UbiSim's parent company Labster, It's all about finding a solution to one of the nation's most daunting workforce challenges — a simmering shortage of nurses that's only getting worse as the Baby Boom generation ages. UbiSim is designed to ease the burden of human instructors, allowing nursing schools to serve more students. The company says that nursing schools that have adopted the technology have been able to increase enrollment between 5% and 25%. In addition, UbiSim can simulate a great variety of medical scenarios, enabling students to hone their skills without putting patients at risk.
Tennessee has a vital demand for nurses, which the University of Tennessee at Knoxville is addressing through a newly established accelerated nursing program that includes a school-to-work pipeline for UT Medical Center.
The inaugural class graduated Dec. 13. Each graduating nurse in the class of 40 received three-year contracts with the hospital. Next year, the BSN Scholars Program should graduate 64 students, with an end goal of graduating 100 nurses annually.
The Tennessee Hospital Association projects the statewide gap of registered nurses to be at 8,500 by 2035.
About 2,000 nurses and health care workers at the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike.
The union reported that 98.7% of voting members authorized a strike, and the union will give the hospital a 10-day notice if a strike is called, the Michigan Nurses Association said in a statement. The MNA is assisting the union for the workers, the Professional Employee Council of Sparrow Hospital-Michigan Nurses Association.
No decision has been made to strike, said Jeff Breslin, a registered nurse and president of the local union.
U-M Health-Sparrow officials said in a statement they hope an agreement can be reached without a strike and are making plans to ensure safe staffing levels in the event of a strike.