union pro or con

K98 · Mar 25, 2009

The only tangible difference the SEIU has made at our facility is the 840.00 per year drain they have put on each RN's paycheck. They come around every 3 years and hand out some purple and yellow buttons, then fade away and collect their 1.1 million dollars per year in dues from our cash cow, er, I mean hospital. Unions can be a good thing, especially in health care, but avoid ServingEmployerInsteadOfUs like the plague.

allnurses Guide · Mar 25, 2009

i'd rather work without the pompons, hot dogs, cheerleaders, and even the $900.00. there are no nursing care or patient care criteria.

what makes it so great?
last year managers at the nonprofit hospital hand-delivered success shares of nearly $900 per employee for improvements in patient satisfaction and held rallies with pompons, hot dogs, cheerleaders.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/snapshots/59.html

violations:

- the hospital failed to ensure that pharmacists responding to medical emergencies (code blue) were trained and competent before recommending doses of all medications used in a medical emergency. inadwequate dose of narcan recommended - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmemorial-lajolla-event-1dck11-20080418.pdf

- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to develop and implement policies a procedures to protect patient safety related to the use of controlled substances. a fentanyl patch was applied following surgery for acute post operative pain which is a contraindication according to the black box warning statement... - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmemoria-lajolla-event-1dck11-20080307.pdf

- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to protect a patient's right to considerate and respectful care. the patient had undergone an invasive cardiac procedure, and was lying on a gurney awaiting transfer to an intensive care unit, when the physician who had performed the invasive procedure proceeded to verbally and physically abuse the patient. - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmemorialhospital-lajolla-event-bm3p11.pdf

- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to implement policies and procedures to provide for effective surgical service infection control. - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsgreenhospital-lajolla-event-zskg11.pdf

- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to ensure the patient safety in the surgical department when a patient fell off an operating table during surgery

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsgreen-lajolla-event-hjze11.pdf

- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to have a safe, effective and timely system for dispensing and administering medications. - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmercy-sandiego-event-n64l11.pdf

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Honnête et Sérieux · Mar 26, 2009

i’d rather work without the pompons, hot dogs, cheerleaders, and even the $900.00. there are no nursing care or patient care criteria.
violations:
- the hospital failed to ensure that pharmacists responding to medical emergencies (code blue) were trained and competent before recommending doses of all medications used in a medical emergency. inadwequate dose of narcan recommended - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmemorial-lajolla-event-1dck11-20080418.pdf
- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to develop and implement policies a procedures to protect patient safety related to the use of controlled substances. a fentanyl patch was applied following surgery for acute post operative pain which is a contraindication according to the black box warning statement… - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmemoria-lajolla-event-1dck11-20080307.pdf
- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to protect a patient's right to considerate and respectful care. the patient had undergone an invasive cardiac procedure, and was lying on a gurney awaiting transfer to an intensive care unit, when the physician who had performed the invasive procedure proceeded to verbally and physically abuse the patient. - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmemorialhospital-lajolla-event-bm3p11.pdf
- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to implement policies and procedures to provide for effective surgical service infection control. - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsgreenhospital-lajolla-event-zskg11.pdf
- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to ensure the patient safety in the surgical department when a patient fell off an operating table during surgery
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsgreen-lajolla-event-hjze11.pdf
- [color=#4c4c4c]the hospital failed to have a safe, effective and timely system for dispensing and administering medications. - http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/documents/hospitaladministrativepenalties-2567forms-lnc/2567scrippsmercy-sandiego-event-n64l11.pdf
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and ironically, this was still the best in california.

one can only shudder to think what is happening in the rest of the state if this is the best-foot-forward for employees.

is the implication here that the hospital does worse in treating their patients than unionized hospitals that didn't make the list?

are you thinking that i couldn't go to the cdph website and find reams of violations in facilities that are unionized?

allnurses Guide · Mar 26, 2009

Let me know if I'm wrong.

It seems that 60% of all Admistrative Penalty assessments in San Diego County were regarding Scripps hospitals.

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/facilities/Pages/CountySanDiego.aspx

RN4MERCY · Mar 26, 2009

We are the only tertiary facility of it's kind to make the Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For." Can you explain why the only Cali Hospital to make that list is a non-union hospital?

Too easily...marketing and advertising. Pay to play. Fortune's 100 Best, that's the advertising vehicle they chose. Solucient 100..., Top 100 Hospitals..., 100 Top Hospitals...and the list goes on. Pick one, pay, and use it on your ads. It comes complete with proprietary tools, surveys and press release templates, professional "coaches" and other techniques to manipulate staff and public perception. Hot dogs and cheerleaders, anyone? Scripting and teaching to the test...critical thinkers need not apply!

How are these companies chosen?

The FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® Companies are selected primarily on the basis of their employees' responses to the Great Place to Work® Trust Index©, a proprietary employee survey developed by the Great Place to Work® Institute. Every company that applied for the FORTUNE "100 Best" list received a confidential complimentary report allowing them to compare their employee survey responses to the "100 Best Companies", allowing them to see where they did well, and where they can further improve their workplaces. In addition, the Institute evaluates materials submitted by the company, including the company's response to the Great Place to Work® Culture Audit©, any accompanying materials submitted by the company for consideration, as well as information gathered from other reputable sources such as media stories about the company.

Yeah, great source...media stories about the company = press release derrivatives from the hospital's corporate partners. The newspaper editors and the hospital board members meet up regularly at the C of C and award each other community service ribbons too. If your hospital board has gobs of extra-money lying around, buying into the big-boy's club by using "proprietary" push-pull surveys and serving the nurses hot dogs on nurses' day...wow, that's showing respect for the profession and a commitment to the patients! Top 100? Stop the presses and hold the buns...the ONLY tertiary care facility of it's kind? Yeah, right!

That being said, you're obviously proud of where you work. I work in a 'Top 100' hospital too. They said it was "the best of the best" at the time, and it's become an even better place to work since we voted to organize and we passed the ratio law in California. :yeah: I didn't say perfect, but much safer, especially for the patients.

Honnête et Sérieux · Mar 26, 2009

Figures. If the ranking does not fit your ideology, just criticize the methodology.

Show some evidence. Proof of the claim that a union hospital is safer.

I take it back...one other similar tertiary facility was ranked. It was non-union as well.

And I didn't share it as an issue of pride, I was pointing out in line with the theme of the thread that non-union hospitals know how to treat their employees well, even while you trivialize the very things they do that make their employees happy.

I'm just pleased we didn't need a ratio law here; our facilities obviously don't need someone else to tell them how to implement safe staffing.

allnurses Guide · Mar 26, 2009

There is one study from years ago

allnurses Guide · Mar 27, 2009

Article begins on page 11and continues on page 13

Before California staffing ratios took effect registered nurse Colleen Sichley used to perform a small ritual in her car before the start of each shift. She would turn off the engine, take a deep breath, collect herself, close her eyes, and start to pray. "Please, please help me to make sure that all these people make it out alive,"
she'd think.
Sichley later discovered that too many of her colleagues did the same thing. "We were afraid to go to work," she said, recalling that in those days, when she worked as a geriatric RN, she would sometimes care for 16 patients with just the help of one licensed vocational nurse and one technician. "I would pick and choose which patients were the worst off and whom I'd spend time with.
When we would leave in the morning, you would see nurses crying on their way out to their car."
It's hard to believe this was a common scenario just five years ago.
While there will always be room for improvement in hospital staffing, California's landmark RN-to-patient ratio laws have transformed floors and units across the state into much safer and better places to work by limiting the number of patients that can be assigned to one RN.
Where RNs used to care for nine, 10, or even more patients on a general medical-surgical floor, state law now says they can be responsible for no more than five, and the limits are even lower for other units.
RN-topatient ratios have also brought registered nurses back to the bedside. Data from the California Board of Registered Nursing shows that the number of RNs actively licensed to work in the state has grown by nearly 100,000 since the law was signed in 1999. Even patients are now...
http://www.calnurses.org/publications/registered-nurse-magazine/rn_mag_march_web.pdf

Honnête et Sérieux · Mar 27, 2009

There is one study from years ago

Could YOU please summarize the conclusion so I won't be accused of bias?

It seems to me that they are acknowledging that they might be able to show correlation, but not causation.

allnurses Guide · Mar 27, 2009

Could YOU please summarize the conclusion so I won't be accused of bias?
It seems to me that they are acknowledging that they might be able to show correlation, but not causation.

Already done

https://allnurses.com/nursing-activism-healthcare/jona-says-nurses-15369.html

Honnête et Sérieux · Mar 27, 2009

Already done
https://allnurses.com/nursing-activism-healthcare/jona-says-nurses-15369.html

Thanks.

Speculative correlation, but not necessarily causation.

Kind of what I was thinking...just wanted to clarify.

Would it be fair to say that it's not sufficient to actually promote unions for clinical reasons? Possibly a Class III modality? (ACLS-speak).

allnurses Guide · Mar 27, 2009

Thanks.
Speculative correlation, but not necessarily causation.
Kind of what I was thinking...just wanted to clarify.
Would it be fair to say that it's not sufficient to actually promote unions for clinical reasons? Possibly a Class III modality? (ACLS-speak).

I'm an ACLS instructor. Don't want to have that discussion.

I was just trying to help.

I do know the more patients a nurse is responsible for the greater risk for his or her patients.

And tens of thousands of nurses and others, led by the California Nurses Association achieved the first law requiring staffing by acuity of which the ratio determines the maximum number of patients that may be assigned to a nurse.

http://www.calnurses.org/publications/registered-nurse-magazine/rn_mag_march_web.pdf