Not so, health system responds; Mission Health has more employed nurses now than January 2022, spokesperson says.
Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, is under fire for the third time in less than a year for safety issues as RNs there have scheduled a protest rally on Thursday, August 25, for alleged “chronic short staffing that jeopardizes patient safety.”
Earlier this year, the HCA Healthcare facility was cited and fined nearly $30,000 by the Occupational Health and Safety Division (OSH) of the North Carolina Department of Labor for not adequately protecting nurses and other healthcare workers from COVID-19.
In June, RNs staged a rally to demand that the administration recruit and retain more nurses, citing that one intensive care unit nurse routinely has three patients, instead of one or two, and that nurses across the hospital were working more than 13 hours a day with no meal or rest breaks.
RNs will be repeating those staffing demands Thursday at a rally outside Mission Hospital, Mission Health’s flagship hospital, according to a press release issued by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).
“Last week, the union staffing committee members warned management that dangerous staffing levels in the inpatient behavioral health units will lead to increased workplace violence,” said Elle Kruta, RN, a member of the staffing committee. “Two days later, four employees were victims of workplace violence. Two staff members had to be medically evaluated.”
“Our demand is simple,” Kruta said. “Stop admitting patients until there is enough staff to safely care for our patients.”
Among the nurses’ concerns, according to NNOC/NNU:
- Current staffing—1,379 RNs—is nearly 25% fewer than about a year ago.
- Since April 2022, the emergency department has been short 15 nurses despite hiring 11 nurses in that unit.
- More than a dozen nurses in the ED are brand new RNs with no experience.
- Cardiovascular ICU RNs say they don’t have the staffing to turn patients as often as necessary prevent pressure sores.
- Behavioral health unit nurses reported that, for two night shifts, they had only two nurses to care for 23 patients.
But Mission Health has more employed nurses now than January 2022, not including the travelers contracted to support the Mission care team, hospital spokesperson Nancy Lindell said in a statement to HealthLeaders.
“As usual, this labor union is focused on gaining publicity by spreading misinformation and attacking hospitals rather than acknowledging the many significant efforts we have underway to continue to attract and retain great nurses during a time when hospitals across the country are having to respond to the shortage of trained healthcare providers,” Lindell said.
Those efforts, in addition to heavily recruiting, she said, include:
- International nurses
- Academic partnerships, including the recent announcement of funding additional faculty members at three local colleges and university for their nursing education programs
- Opening the Galen College of Nursing in Biltmore Park
- Mission’s “pay to learn” certified nursing assistant (CNA) program in both Asheville and in Highlands.
- Significant sign-on bonuses
“Our demand is simple: Stop admitting patients until there is enough staff to safely care for our patients.”
Elle Kruta, RN, staffing committee member
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
RNs at Mission Hospital have scheduled a protest rally on Thursday, August 25, for alleged “chronic short staffing.”
Mission Health has more employed nurses now than January 2022, a hospital spokesperson said.
Mission Health’s staffing strategy includes significant sign-on bonuses, travel nurses, a new college of nursing, and academic partnerships, the spokesperson said.