Doris Carroll

Yes it was a damning piece against Ascension. Anyone can go to NursesTakeDC FB page to read entire article. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/business/hospital-staffing-ascension.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

It is reportable by law in several states. the staffing plan.

Management feels they are acceptable risks. It would never pass in any state to make short staffing a criminal offense, although research does correlate less nurses with increased adverse outcomes. This is why we need a federal staffing bill or states to pass their own staffing legislation, putting hospitals on notice with severe penalties and staffing committees with more leverage. Oregon just announced proposed ratio legislation for 2023, very detailed. https://www.oregonrn.org/page/SafeStaffing-legislation

It's my comment based on my 37 years of nursing experiences, and 10 years active in the union. Rarely did I encounter nurse management as someone like you. Even during the initial wave of Covid. I'm glad you understand the issues and willing to step in. I stand by my comment.

Wow...some people don't belong in management. And nurses in management are -how to put this-not your friend and have long ago forgotten their roots. Rarely did I see those who fought the C-suite for better staffing. ?

You're very kind! And congrats on your retirement--but you look very busy still! I'm still working with my former union as a retired member, to re-introduce staffing ratio/acuity legislation in 2023. And busy here in Florida with Labor unions and politics ? (here's my view of the backyard pond...)

Oh my-this brings back so many terrible memories as I have retired in early 2021. I have to say my last 10 yrs were less toxic. I'd have to dig deep for those reasons though. Perhaps I changed what I could actually do to change the toxicity- I became active in my union. ? But I do recall working in an high risk OB tertiary care clinic and loved the physicians and patients. But my supervisor was a nurse who started each day with a morning meeting- "Our day is going to be very bad" Each day. I couldn't tolerate her ineptness, her negativity and left to go back to inpatient L&D! In 9 months, that was 1987...

Nurses can join in the fight to pass federal legislation- S. 1567/H.R.3165 - Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021. Go here to learn the steps you can do to educate, organize and agitate. Learn how you can educate yourselves, other nurses and congressional legislators for these bills. https://www.nursestakedc.com/legislative-information These bills will die in committee within the week. Next year we hope to see the bills re-introduced. But- the value of learning this information is that it can be applied to fighting for legislation in your own states. Ask unions what are they doing to support and pass ratio legislation? Don't be fooled by the ANA, AONL and the AHA-they want to see staffing committees as opposed to ratios. Staffing committees allow the hospital to remain in control, attempting to pacify nurses. Yes, some increases in FTEs can be had, but it is a slow and arduous process. Even Dr. Linda Aiken has raised her voice in mandating legislation now in the past few years as her own and others research is ignored by the AHA. Dr. Linda Aiken in 2019–“…There has never been one shred of evidence to show more nurse staffing made things worse, but there have been a lot of studies to show they made things better,” says Aiken. She also notes that all of the fears the hospital industry in California expressed were unfounded. “No hospitals closed, and the public didn’t pay more even though it was an unfunded mandate. The hospitals just shifted their resources…Critics of nurse-to-patient ratios say they take away from nurses’ discretion, but I don’t buy it,” says nurse researcher Aiken. “We can show people are dying unnecessarily. I’ve been doing research for over 40 years, and there has been no other example that improves patient outcomes more than staffing.”https://www.aft.org/news/fed-unsafe-staffing-nurses-are-organizing-change?fbclid=IwAR0ojOPQuRy-E1GKPyTH-KjyUXMQ6ZP63arnOCmGEMCx3x-Pwlqy9q5m1kg

Thanks for posting the Patch article. They have now fired the CNO. And they've given the nurses a "final warning" which does not follow the usual steps in the disciplinary process. It's the step before termination at their facility. As you said the union continues to meet with administration, community leaders and legislators...

Thanks for responding. Appreciate your thoughtful response. Quite shameful Ascension... In 15min NurseLiz will be speaking about this issue...

It is a nonprofit as many hospitals are, especially a religious hospital. Unclear how many beds but this graphic says much how they are closing beds, with the belief they will eventually close. Not because they're losing money...

I understand. My union did that in 2017. I was told we hadn't properly educated our nurses on the staffing issues. It wasn't an urgent issue that my own nurses were ready to strike on. I was devastated. Then in 2020 I made sure ratios were front and center. We won 200 more positions in a hospital of 1400 RNs. Hospital refused to call it ratios, called it FTE staffing commitment. However, now many nurses have retired or went to travel nursing. Yet our turnover rate is quite low compared to other IL hospitals. So the way you get your voices heard in your union- you run for office on the local union board-it's run by nurses with organizers to assist. And the the state board. That's how it's done. It's a democracy so majority will rule.

It's a long-standing cover-up by healthcare systems. They choose to target nurses with criminal charges rather then deal effectively with the root cause- unsafe staffing.

We need to continue to volunteer our expertise in pushing the federal legislation forward. No one will do it for us. That message should be very clear now. There are many ways that one nurse can make a difference. First see if your congressional senators and representatives are co-sponsors: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3165/cosponsors?r=84&s=1. If not email them, then call, then see them in person. https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials Use this to familiarize yourself and review with legislators, nurse colleagues, family and friends. Demand your legislator become a co-sponsor and pass it! From www.NursesTakeDC.com Schedule appointment with nurses and congressional legislators. The legislative session ends with the Nov 8th election. Hopefully, Jan Schakowsky-IL and Sherrod Brown-OH will re-introduce the federal bill in 2023. It has been re-ntroduced for decades. Nurses must do this!! Support organizations that fight for patient safety. Show up in Skokie Illinois for a Patient Safety Advocate Org on Nov 10th. Get tickets now! https://ci.ovationtix.com/34423/production/1141887.. Preparing for NTDC federal Legislator visit document HR 3165 S 1567.docx Vote Yes on HR 3165 and S 1567 Nurse Staffing Ratio bill NTDC June 2022.docx

Agreed. Apparently the CNO was just fired. There are ways to fight back. Create an ADO form-Assignment Despite Objection to document the unsafe staffing. Remember-if we don't document it didn't happen. It means you've taken your assignment despite your objection that it's unsafe. Unions have created this document. If you're not in a union what to do? Create your own ADO using Google Forms. Here's an example from a union -https://ado.wsna.org/ado . Start creating a file folder of emails you sent to the charge nurse, copying the supervisor or director of your assignments. Obviously this can not happen if only one nurse does this. Get your entire unit to buy in, get multiple units to do it. Call your legislator in that hospital district. Make an appointment. Present the folder to them. Call your public health department. File a report anonymously. Organize and educate yourselves. Depending on which state you live in you may have laws to protect you. Whistleblower legislation, staffing legislation. Although social media, marches have helped engage and network with others, it's just not the endgame. You must speak out. Silence=acceptance. Join a union.