Right now, 15,000 nurses in Minnesota, part of MNA, spanning 16 (?) hospitals, are on a 3-day strike. It's the largest nursing strike in US history.
Staffing plans for this strike include utilizing nursing leaders as "helpers" and paying exorbitant amounts to travel nurses to fill in (on a FB L&D nursing group I'm in, I saw one agency offering $10,000 for five 12-hour shifts at one hospital in a northern suburb of Minneapolis).
As a nursing leader, it was requested that I sign up for a shift at one of the hospitals that is affiliated with the clinic where I work. I opted not to sign up, as I do not want to cross the picket line, and I am in solidarity with the nurses who are striking.
Ironically, my son came down with appendicitis yesterday morning, and I had to cross the picket line anyway, as we brought him in to the local ED and he had emergency surgery yesterday afternoon (they had to transport him to the children's hospital in the neighboring city because the children's hospital in the city where we originally brought him was closed except the ED, due to the strike). He got great care and is now home resting. Quite the ethical dilemma and moral crisis, depending on, and grateful to, the "scab" nurses (can I say that here?) that I disdained a week ago!
In case anyone was wondering, the major requests of the nurses is a 30% pay increase over the next 3 years, and having direct say and a vote in individual units' staffing plans. As in, 51% of the nurses in a unit must approve the staffing ratios of that unit. I think that is VERY reasonable.
The first picture was taken from the cafeteria at the Children's hospital in Minneapolis. The second picture was taken from the lobby at Regions in St. Paul, just because I've never seen such healthy dracaena before and I thought they were beautiful. ?
Why? Don't, please. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with going into nursing for the money, as long as one does their job well.
Yeah I didn't go into nursing for the BIG money. I did it so I could feed my family. Making $40 an hours is not 6 figures... who is saying a nurse could easily make 6 figures? And who is working a 1.0 FTE.
Anybody that does not see what is going on here needs to wake up.
"I really struggle to recall any nursing problem-solving-related discussion I have been involved in with leadership that didn't start (and thus end) with ground rules which precluded discussion of staffing".
Sadly, this was my experience too.
"When I was a unit manager, the CEO of the hospital once made me tell him how dilated each of the labor patients were before he would approve me bringing in another nurse at premium pay".
I knew it was bad, but not THIS bad! I'll bet he would have approved it if men were giving birth!
ytooter
1 Article; 53 Posts
Yeah I didn't go into nursing for the BIG money. I did it so I could feed my family. Making $40 an hours is not 6 figures... who is saying a nurse could easily make 6 figures? And who is working a 1.0 FTE.
Anybody that does not see what is going on here needs to wake up.