Duluth RNs to conduct informational picketing

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4557

8 July 2010

DULUTH - More than 1,300 Duluth nurses will conduct informational picketing from noon to 5 p.m. on Monday, July 12, outside SMDC Medical Center to call attention to unsafe staffing levels.

"Here at St. Mary's and Miller Dwan (SMDC), we currently have more than 800 open nursing shifts over a four-week period from mid-June to mid-July," said Steve Strand, RN. "The hospital is literally begging nurses to work double shifts and overtime to try and fill all these gaps. But if you or your loved one is a patient, do you want an overworked, stressed-out nurse at the end of a 16- or 20-hour shift taking care of you during a critical situation? Of course you don't. Unsafe staffing isn't just a nurse issue. It's a public safety issue."

More than 1,300 Duluth nurses at SMDC and St. Luke's Hospital are in the midst of negotiations with hospital management regarding a new labor agreement. Their current contract expired on July 1, and six weeks of bargaining has yielded little progress at both facilities.

"As with any set of contract negotiations, there are economic issues involved, but far and away the most pressing issue is what to do about these unsafe staffing conditions," said Kristi Hendrickson, an RN at St. Luke's Hospital.

"On our West Side units, sometimes we have one nurse trying to care for 9 to 13 patients. When you consider what goes into caring for each individual patient, you begin to realize just how dangerous these types of situations are. And it's not like our hospitals can just close their doors and go on 'Divert' status in the Emergency Room. There isn't anywhere else for our patients in the Northland to go when a medical emergency strikes."

Reprinted from the MNA website.