ObamaCare/Health Reform Law Blamed for Nursing Strikes

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 28, 2011

This in turn increases stresses on the nursing staff, which may lead to them going out on strike...

More than 80 percent of nurses are not unionized. Since the vast majority of nurses do not belong to any kind of union, they cannot go out on strike.

In addition, the 'article' is really a blog post.

allnurses Guide · May 3, 2011

Just to bring this back up um, there are some strikes going on right this moment but I don't see any threads about it. hmmmm....

I didn;t know about nurses on strike right now.

How about starting a thread about them?

https://allnurses.com/collective-bargaining-nursing/

upstatenygirl, LPN · May 3, 2011

okay, i am a student and i'm learning about insurance and all that good stuff still so be kind :saint: . i was under the impression that more medical centers would be developed (like surgical centers, etc.) and hospitals would expand and more nurses would be employed in the near future. also, isn't there a certain amount of nurses that have to be on staff per shift? i would think that if patient load increased, then the number of nurses on the floor would increase especially because of medical malpractice concerns. why do nurses have to work 12 hour shifts anyhow? i don't think there is a lack of nurses as there are many graduates looking for jobs. i get that they are trying to turn a profit but they are concerned about patient care--aren't they? i'm just trying to understand ....

:)

hospitals expanding:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain/article/0/6626/1611621/health.news/unity.health.expanding.in.greece

http://www2.nelsoncountytimes.com/news/2010/nov/03/new-blue-ridge-medical-center-increase-health-care-ar-626638/

http://www.fairport-erpost.com/latestnews/x1405312277/irondequoit-s-kings-park-becomes-hospital-s-riedman-campus

mazy · May 3, 2011

Meh, the article is lazy and poorly written, so hard to take seriously.

The predicted nursing shortage turned out to be a faulty prediction. I'm wondering if the same holds true for this predicted PCP shortage. There are a lot of things that will change in the next 15 years.

I can't link to the article on striking nurses referenced because the page doesn't exist anymore.

But over the past twenty years numerous factors have contributed to higher mortality rates in hospitals, including poor staffing, poor training, lack of resources to do the job, higher levels of acuity, more aggressive and riskier interventions to save lives, with mixed results, and systemic failures leading to fatal med errors and catastrophic mistakes, etc. etc.

So obviously, this is all the fault of striking nurses. Or is it the fault of Obama? Maybe it's the fault of the doctors? Clearly it is the fault of someone. Perhaps the obese? We blame them for everything else.

But the past twenty years has seen numerous presidential administrations and only two years of Obama, and the healthcare reform hasn't even started to have an impact on anything, so it's a little early to be screaming that the sky is falling.

Also, it's kind of disturbing that he is upset about what's going to happen when all these people who can now afford healthcare hit the system, I would think he would be more alarmed about the fact that 32 million people in this country have no access to health care at this time, which is an absolute disgrace.

Interesting quote:

Gruber said that he wasn't surprised by the results of his study. "I've seen how vital nurses are to hospital production," he said, adding that replacement nurses don't seem to fill the void.

I'm not sure what Terry trying to prove here, but to me it seems that if nurses are vital, then more should be done to support nurses as vital members of the health care team, including increasing staffing levels, training, salaries, administrative support, and resources to do the job well.

If the reform does go into full swing, more people will have access to preventative medicine, which will mean less people needing to be hospitalized for diseases that could be controlled earlier with better screening.

And hopefully reduce the number of people flooding ERs and subsequently being admitted to the hospital for problems that could be treated in a drs. office.

So it's convenient that more doctors want to work in outpatient settings -- we're going to need them there.

I also think it's interesting that he managed to work in a reference to international doctors being trained here; perhaps in the future he can also write an article linking immigration, nursing, unions, reformist cheerleaders, and lazy uninterested doctors with the downfall of society due to the Obama administration.

The best part is how at the end of the article, he attributes the accompanying photo to the AFL-CIO. So we know we are getting a carefully thought out and well-researched essay. Yeah, right.

dance4life · May 8, 2011

I didn;t know about nurses on strike right now.
How about starting a thread about them?
https://allnurses.com/collective-bargaining-nursing/

Thanks, I guess I will.

Will start one...

*Edit*

Oh! Someone already did!

https://allnurses.com/collective-bargaining-nursing/florence-doesnt-work-562805.html

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 8, 2011

Thanks, I guess I will.
Will start one...
*Edit*
Oh! Someone already did!
https://allnurses.com/collective-bargaining-nursing/florence-doesnt-work-562805.html

I clicked on the weblink. The nurses were making strike threats, but never actually went on strike.

dance4life · May 8, 2011

I clicked on the weblink. The nurses were making strike threats, but never actually went on strike.

Okay if you Google "nurse strikes", "nursing strikes", or you can even look up the NNU they have media links listed on their site every day. On Friday, a CA hospital did strike. I was on my Android reading it and I do not have the link.

That is just one link. I didn't start the thread. I wasn't referencing that link the person who wrote it did.

Chico David, BSN, RN · May 13, 2011

Okay if you Google "nurse strikes", "nursing strikes", or you can even look up the NNU they have media links listed on their site every day. On Friday, a CA hospital did strike. I was on my Android reading it and I do not have the link.
That is just one link. I didn't start the thread. I wasn't referencing that link the person who wrote it did.

Children's Hospital in Oakland is about at the end of a 5 day strike. The main issue in this bargaining is the hospital's demand that the nurses pay a larger share of their health care costs. Yes, some will say that a lot of folks already are, but community standards are an important part of the context. In unionized hospitals in the SF Bay area fully employer-paid health insurance is the norm and the nurses at Children's are not interested in being the ones to break that standard.

LongislandRN23 · May 14, 2011

I do think that "Obama Care" will be bad for nursing. More people will have insurance, and more affordable insurance which is great BUT that means insurance companies are going to remburst more which means less ......which means nurses getting paid a lower salary, having much more patients and therefore not being able to supply proper care.

dance4life · May 17, 2011

I do think that "Obama Care" will be bad for nursing. More people will have insurance, and more affordable insurance which is great BUT that means insurance companies are going to remburst more which means less ......which means nurses getting paid a lower salary, having much more patients and therefore not being able to supply proper care.

It seems it was already starting to become this way before Obama came into office though and you are right though it is getting worse. At least that is what I have noticed. Not sure around where anyone else is located.

WIN007 · Jun 6, 2011

those patients are already seeking care anyway. they're just coming in from the ED and leaving the hospital to eat the bill (and higher premiums for the rest of us).

WIN007 · Jun 6, 2011

I'm not sure what Obamacare does to nursing and couldn't make any sense of the article but the patients you think will be entering the market are ALREADY in it. They come in from the ED that HAS to take them and does. Then the hospital has to eat the loss and passes it on to patients WITH insurance and then the premiums go up. Not only this, but people come in usually in late stage development of problems rather than earlier which can be treated more economically or prevented.

Seems only logical if they have access to preventative care it will reduce workloads and save costs, not increase them. Sheesh.