More than 8,000 Sutter Health nurses and health care workers across Northern California are planning to participate in a one-day strike today to protest the health network’s alleged refusal to address their concerns about safe staffing and health and safety protections, the California Nurses Association said in a press release.
The picket is scheduled to take place at more than a dozen Sutter Health facilities until 6 p.m. tonight.
Locations include Oakland, Berkeley, Vallejo, Santa Rosa, Crescent City, Tracy, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Castro Valley, Antioch, Auburn, Roseville, Lakeport, Burlingame, Novato and Sacramento.
“We are heartened that negotiations with the California Nurses Association (CNA) have resumed with the involvement of a federal mediator,” said a Sutter Health spokesperson in a statement Sunday. “We notified the Union (Sunday) that if the uncertainty of a strike remains this afternoon, we will staff our hospitals on Monday with the contracted replacement workers.”
According to the press release, Sutter Health registered nurses and health care workers have been in contract negotiations since June of last year but that there has been little to no movement on the problems.
“Nurses overwhelmingly voted to go out on strike because we see no other option left for us and our patients,” said Amy Erb, a registered nurse who works in critical care at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. “We have tried repeatedly to address the chronic and widespread problem of short staffing that causes delays in care and potentially puts patients at risk, but hospital administrators continue to ignore us.”
13 comments
It’s not about the Sick people in the hospital.It’s about having to work for what you earn.And they think they are over worked and underpaid.Quit your jobs you make plenty plus your benefits.You can be replaced.
Say that to a nurse the next time you have to stay in a hospital.
I usually agree with this for most jobs. However, nurses are SEVERELY understaffed. That does not mean that they can just do their own work and all is well. They MUST fill the gap for all the roles that are not staffed as well. Many places don’t decrease patients numbers; they just run the nurses ragged. I work in a hopstial and fully support our nurses. The hospital cannot function without them! So, in this case, it REALLY is about sick folks in the hospital. They are not getting the best care because the nurses ARE overworked, understaffed, and overwhelmed.
If it’s so bad, why keep working for them?
They really need to find something better to do. Like Prove their worth. Greed is HURTING SICK PEOPLE.!
Wait… I thought nurses were dancing with joy because the benevolent and ever-wise regime made everybody wear masks and stay locked up inside for months on end because of a deadly worldwide pandemic of the unvaccinated ravaging the world! I saw it on tv…..
I’m sure you’ve heard of the large amount of nursing staff that have left the profession during and following COVID. Many left since they were close to retirement, they had their own medical issues that made caring for infected patients a danger to their own lives, they were tired of being separated from family during the height of COVID or lived in fear that they would become infected and expose their family members.
It is difficult at this time to find replacements for RN staff. At the moment there are large numbers of travel nurses coming here to cover the shortfall. The unit I work in is close to 80% travelers. You might say just go somewhere else- here’s why it isn’t that easy. If you’ve only worked with your employee for a year or two, it’s not such a big deal to leave. But if you have worked for the same employer for years, you become vested in that company and receive benefits such as a pension (which obviously you don’t want to lose). You also have seniority which effects your ability to get a new job with a schedule that works better for you and your family as well as getting vacation time off that you want.
But let me turn this around since I have only told you my perspective and haven’t addressed how it effects you and the patients that we care for. Sutter nurses are striking due to being understaffed. To better explain this,you need to understand nurse to patient ratios. In the ER, you can have 4 stable patients. If you have a patient who is critical your max number of patients is 2. If the patient requires lifesaving measures, the nurse would only have that one patient. If I have 4 patients and one requires CPR , I call the manager to find coverage for the other 3 patients. Usually those 3 patients would be divided between nurses who have less than 4 patients. If you are admitted to the hospital, the ICU ratio is 1 RN to 2 patients, in ICU step down it is 1:3 and the other units are either 1:4 or 1:5. Due to tge staffing shortages some hospitals will say the have a “staffing crisis” which means that they aren’t able to staff according to ratio. An acquaintance of mine used to work on an ICU step down unit where the ratio is 1:3, however she had 5 patients. You might wonder why this is a problem- the issue is that we are monitoring those who have perhaps been admitted for a heart attack or have respiratory issues. They need to be monitored closely, have numerous IV drips that need constant titration to just name a few scenarios. When you have more patients you are spread thin and it becomes unsafe for both patients and staff.
Unfortunately there is a ripple down.
The nurses are short staffed which leads to fewer beds being available.
When ambulances come in there have been increasing wall times. Pt stay on the gurney until there is a bed available. If there are no beds available then either the pt stays on the gurney for up to 6 hours or they just stay in the ER.
If the ambulance is out of service waiting for a bed then that is one less ambulance available to run 911 calls.
If there are less ambulances available then pts and fire depts are waiting longer.
This is a no win situation. Many healthcare providers have either left or have been let go since they were non vaccinated.
@Anna
Don’t put yourself in the position of trying to reason with jerks; their mind is made up and will only be confused if presented with facts.
When schools closed and teachers/unions refused to open them, many medical folks stayed home! And, when things started to get back to normal and they came back, they were fired for not wanting unproven vaccinations that are not effective. Politicians and unions have done this.
CNA has their own pension plan that is not tied to the Nurse’s Employer, Unlike John Muir Walnut Creek Campus.
Having needed their services on any number of occasions, these nurses do great work, something I could not do (due to training, naturally). I lean toward the, if you are not paid what you think you should get, find a different job, or do something different than what you are doing now. The hard fact is, you are making what the prevailing wage is. Healthcare is not a supply/demand situation, as I see it. There is no easy answer for paying these work horses. If it was a customer paid situation, people would complain about the cost of healthcare going up. Ultimately, I hope they get what they deserve.
@The Old Goat – I believe in trying to explain the behind the scenes as much as possible. I can always try! 🙂
I will likely never attempt to explain the triage system that is used in the ER – people can’t seem to understand the concept that the people who come in after you will be let in first if their condition warrants being brought back immediately. Unfortunately the ER is used as primary care instead of making a doctor’s appointment. Yes, I do understand that your doctor often is unavailable for an immediate appointment, but as that seems to be our reality at present, it needs to be understood that this translates to longer wait times in the waiting room.
If you want to learn how the triage system functions, you can learn more here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triage
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