Nurses at Centinela Hospital Medical Center plan to hold an informational picket at the Inglewood facility on Wednesday, April 27, claiming they are understaffed, overworked and struggling to provide adequate patient care.
Many of the hospital’s 400 nurses — represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) — will gather in front of Centinela’s emergency entrance from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and from noon to 2 p.m. to draw attention to their concerns.
They have been in negotiations for a new contract since November 2021 with little to no movement on key issues, union officials said. Their previous contract expired Jan. 21 2022.
Emma Santiago, a registered nurse who works in Centinela’s cardiovascular intensive care unit, said chronic understaffing has made it difficult for staff to do its job.
“Every day, nurses are required to care for more patients than California’s safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratio law allows,” Santiago said in a statement. “This means we are unable to provide the safe patient care our community deserves.”
Nurses often go home feeling “guilty, exhausted and morally distressed,” she said.
California is the only state in the U.S. to mandate specific nurse-to-patient ratios in every hospital unit. Hospitals must provide one nurse for every two patients in intensive care, for example, and one nurse for every four patients in emergency rooms.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Centinela said it has been locally and nationally recognized for its “exceptional service” to its community, which has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Centinela Hospital Medical Center continues to institute all safety standards and measures to mitigate staffing shortages as we continue to care for patients,” the hospital said.
The nurses are urging management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a contract that:
– Supports patient safety and safe staffing- Allows nurses to provide safe care- Provides pandemic-readiness protections- Guarantees no takeaways- Resolves wage and retirement disparities to help recruit and retain highly skilled nurses
Shamma Singh, a labor and delivery nurse at Centinela, said nurses in her unit are supposed to handle one to two patients but are sometimes forced to deal with more.
“We don’t have staff to replace someone if they call in sick,” the 56-year-old Redondo Beach resident said. “It causes a lot of anxiety and stress. Sometimes there’s no one to cover their breaks, and nurses aren’t getting lunch breaks.”
A group of about 30 nurses held a similar protest at Centinela in August, alleging they were sometimes forced to work 12-hour shifts without a break. The CNA said that prompted more than 220 nurses to leave Centinela in 2020.
A wave of discontent
Similar actions have been staged by nurses at other hospitals in Southern California.
Earlier this month, workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center voted overwhelmingly to authorize an unfair labor practice strike in May, claiming they are understaffed, underpaid and dealing with inadequate COVID-19 protections.
In March, nurses at City of Hope held a silent protest, claiming they are understaffed and working in an environment of lax COVID-19 safeguards and aging infrastructure.
Nurses at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital approved a new three-year labor contract in March, a scant nine days after they picketed the facility to protest understaffing and inadequate COVID-19 protections.
Source: Orange County Register
Be First to Comment