Kaiser Permanente nurses picketed Wednesday afternoon outside the nonprofit’s hospital in Oakland to express their displeasure with a new patient treatment idea: sending patients home.
The picket in Oakland was just one of 14 others in the Bay Area and 20 statewide Wednesday over what the nurses are calling the Home All Alone patient dumping scheme.
Kaiser Permanente calls the idea the Medically Home care delivery platform and said it will provide acute-level care where people prefer to receive it, at home. Those who are looking for professional help may consider checking out online IOP.
“Programs like this one are based on a growing body of evidence on the hospital at home model across the country over the past two decades that show patients are more satisfied with their care and family stress is reduced,” Kaiser officials said.
“Patient functional mobility and activity tends to be higher and quality outcomes are the same or better than being in the hospital,” Kaiser officials said. “Patients treated at home are less likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.”
Kaiser said the idea is not meant to be a cost-saving measure and patients will have the option ultimately to choose whether they go home or stay in the hospital.
Nurses say that nothing can replace professional nursing care, which is based on years of education and experience that allows them to catch details important to care.
“Hey, Kaiser, our patients deserve better,” Nicole Riddle, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, said.
Riddle said there is no way family members can catch the small changes in health that nurses can.
She said nurses can recognize the important small details.
She added that technology, which Kaiser plans to use to deliver care at home, has its place, but it cannot replace eyes and ears at the bedside.
She said community members she has talked to feel scared about Kaiser’s idea and their bodies tense up when they hear about it. Kaiser Oakland nurse Steve Adams said three doctors he has talked to oppose the idea.
They were all scratching their heads, Adams said.
Kaiser said the new platform is being tested in medical centers in Vacaville and Vallejo.
The nurses also said that Kaiser’s answer to what is a shortage of nurses is to send patients home.
Kaiser said it continues to hire nurses.
“Kaiser Permanente Northern California will have hired an estimated 1,800 experienced nurses by the end of the year, in addition to adding 300 new nurses who will graduate from Kaiser Permanente’s nurse residency program,” officials with nonprofit said.
Jill Leon, a Kaiser nurse in Walnut Creek, said her employer is also trying to say that nurses are concerned about their jobs.
“Our concern is we need more staffing” to give patients the care they need, Leon said. “We are concerned about patient care and safety.”
The picket was not part of any strike.
Kaiser doesn’t care about the patient nor do they Respect their employees anymore. Some OVERPAID, person sitting in his overstuffed chair raking in the BIG bucks making these decisions, he/she will never be sent home to heal. I have been a Kaiser patient for 60+ years. People used to say a “long” time ago, Kaiser herds people around like cattle. Move them in and move them out. I never saw that until about 6-8 years ago and NOW, it is getting SO much worse, fast!! Customer service is going out the door, pretty soon we won’t even have Real people greeting us as we come in. I feel Kaiser is making their Doctors lazy. No one wants to “physically” see you anymore., its all a guessing game now via phone or video, Gee, let me Google that, “Practicing” medicine!!!!!!!!!!!!! Automation/ job losses, hope all you who are so wrapped up with your faces glued to your phone are going to be happy with your level of care. Open your eyes people, Nurses and Support staff need your support Now. If you ever spend time in the hospital you’ll experience the shortage first hand (oh, and heaven forbid if you need to go to ER) and know what they (nurses) are trying to do for you. GET A CLUE People. Kaiser now, John Muir, Sutter, Alta Bates and so on, STOP the insanity. Support your Nurses and Staff.
Pretty soon those doctors doing video or phone appointments will no longer be in the area, they too will be replaced by doctors located outside the USA as a way to “cut costs” and “make it more affordable” while the executives keep getting raises and other benefits.
Telemarketers and other jobs were taken overseas and this won’t be any different when it comes to outsourcing jobs.
People can support doctors and nurses but at the end, it all boils down to hospitals pushing to make higher profits.
Of courses will say that…. They’re vastly overpaid. How do you make $90 an hour for what they do. Insanity bu these overpaid babysitters.
Maybe I don’t understand what is going on but I think if you send mental patients home and a nurse has to go to that persons home for a check or treatment that sounds a little iffy to me.
With you on that Ricardoh….I mean what could possibly go wrong?
FYI – Kaiser does very little inpatient mental health treatment. They ship them to county which has a lock down ward. But…Kaiser doesn’t want to pay the bill so they want to send them home instead.
The longer the patient is in the hospital the less money the hospitals makes so it makes sense to kick out the patients ASAP.
Who knew the nurses would be so anti-$cience.
It a shame that Nurses are politically sucked into this…people heal faster at home, we know this. Have a surgery and the last place the Dr. wants you to be post op is a Hospital…MRSA, CDIF, Pneumonia etc…you are placed in a petri dish and most surgeons will say “no I dont want you in hosptial because off the mrsa risk”
Nurses need to keep their nose out of politics. and yes, I realize if there are no patients, you don’t have a job..