Nursing Department Vision Has Changed; Have You Heard?

Dear MNA RN,

Budget-centered care will now be the new mantra of the nursing department. This change appears to be immediate because the family-centered model has been bypassed by the budget when it comes to staffing.

Those of us who actually work at the bedside have experienced the fall out from this budget approach to staffing. Over the past several months nurses from around the hospital have been communicating with the MNA committee about the negative approaches being used to staff the hospital.

First and foremost is the unsafe floating that is happening throughout the hospital. Nurses are being floated to floors/units where they are not clinically expert. This is a set-up for disaster for both patient and nurse. When our patients are admitted to the hospital they expect that clinically experienced nurses will be there to care for them. This is not happening. Nurses are being forced into unsafe practice situations just to save money. There can be no other reason administration would place our patients in danger. The constant scrutiny of assignments every four hours is time consuming for our charge nurses, who also have a full assignment, and it destroys the foundation of patient continuity. For a more in-depth look at this issue and what nurses can do to protect themselves from inappropriate floating, turn to page ___.

At our recent Labor Management meeting the MNA committee brought forward examples of how unhappy nurses are with staffing practices that are eroding the quality of care we pride ourselves on delivering as BWH nurses. Nursing administration responded, “We have to do this to be responsible with the budget. We cannot have extra nurses”. How many of you working on the units are being told that there will be more doubles? How many nurses are routinely working extra shifts and OT? While census can be a “tricky” thing, the single most important aspect of providing safe quality care in a hospital, BWH in particular, is that we are prepared for emergencies and “unplanned admissions”. Isn’t that what a hospital is all about? It appears this concept has been lost in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. The recent administration’s “pilot program” to deal with unplanned admissions has been troublesome at best.

BWH is far from being financially strapped and yet to have the appropriate nurses and resources available for our patients when they need it most is treated as “fluff” or described as a “budget-buster”.

The time has come for all nurses to stand together and tell administration to…..Staff It!

In unity and strength,
Barbara Norton RN, MNA Chairperson