National Nurses United

WRAP-UP REPORT California stays, fewer readmissions, fewer complications in care and higher patient satisfaction," said Lynne Starbard, RN and co-chair of the local bargaining unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents the more than 900 nurses there. Contract highlights include guaranteed limits on nurses' patient assignments for nurses working on the medical-surgical units, including no more than five patients on days, an average of five patients on evenings, and a mix of five and six patient assignments for nurses on nights; guaranteed limits on assignments for charge nurses; and improved RN-to-patient ratios in the hospital's maternity and neonatal intensive care units, as well as new staff in the emergency department to assist with more critically ill patients. RNs will also receive wage increases up to 4.5 percent over the contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2012. of violating the Ohio Nursing Practice Act because it doesn't permit RNs to communicate individualized, potentially lifesaving information about their patients. Hospital officials refused to meet with nurses, and would not accept the letter. "I have been chosen as a 'super-user,'" said Amy Pulley, an RN who works in the endoscopy unit of the hospital. "I'm not sure what makes me 'super' with the limited training for this complex system that I've received. I'm concerned that the manner in which this technology is being implemented may pose serious disruptions in patient care." Besides inherent problems with the EMR system and staffing and training concerns, nurses advised against the implementation plan, which called for the system to be launched across the entire hospital at the same time instead of introduced in stages or certain units to allow for troubleshooting; the use of "super users" to train other RNs, pulling them away from their direct-care duties; and no reductions in the number of elective procedures during the transition. Affinity is part of the nation's largest forprofit hospital chain, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, which has recently been severely sanctioned by federal courts for refusing to bargain with and for retaliating against nurses at Affinity and another CHS hospital in Barstow, Calif. Ohio Veterans Affairs APPLE VALLEY, EUREKA, AND PETALUMA registered nurses at three St. Joseph Health System medical centers ratified a new three-year contract in June that will strengthen patient care protections and provide affordable healthcare benefits. Nurses won improved RN-to-patient safe staffing ratio language, successfully fought off substantial increases to their healthcare premiums, and secured removal of a punitive "wellness" program that recent studies have concluded fail to provide promised savings while penalizing employees who may have chronic health problems. The contracts, which cover some 1,100 RNs, also provide for the initiation of steps to lower the longstanding economic disparities that exist among RNs at St. Joseph facilities across California. "Our nurses ratified the contract without hesitation," said Michelle Stuebe, an RN at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley and a member of the nurses' bargaining team. "Bedside nurses gained a stronger voice in maintaining safe nurse-to-patient staffing, which protects our patients and improves the care provided by our members. I, for one, am excited to get started." LOS ANGELES in june, California Nurses Association President Emeritus Kay McVay, a longtime Kaiser Permanente RN, was honored by the group Consumer Watchdog with a "Rage for Justice" award and inducted into its consumer advocate "Hall of Fame" for her tireless advocacy on behalf of patients. She has led campaigns to keep patients safe, like California's groundbreaking safe staffing ratios, and for healthcare reforms such as single-payer, Medicare for all. Watch this tribute video to McVay at http://youtu.be/s3hz-o8sbiQ. Massachusetts the registered nurses of UMass Memorial Medical Center Memorial/Hahnemann campus voted in June to ratify a new threeyear contract with UMMMC management that provides the significant staffing improvements nurses sought to ensure that their patients receive quality care at this Level I trauma center. "This is truly a win for everyone involved, as the medical research clearly shows that when nurses have fewer patients care improves, and hospitals save millions of dollars due to shorter hospital 10 N AT I O N A L N U R S E From left: CNA President Emeritus Kay McVay, RN, wins consumer award; David Smith, a VA nurse, recouped almost $800 as part of a VA grievance win over uniform allowances. affinity medical center RNs in Massillon, Ohio called on hospital officials to delay the planned June 21 implementation of a new Cerner electronic medical records (EMR) system until they could bargain with the nurses about how to proceed safely, but the hospital failed to do so. Many of the problems that RNs warned about did indeed arise, especially in cases of medication administrator errors. The RNs, represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) in Ohio, had documented their concerns in a detailed letter to hospital officials, saying that nurses had insufficient training on the complex system, of which they would be the primary users; there was insufficient staffing in the first days of the roll out; and that patients were at risk of harm. The system, they say, has the potential W W W. N AT I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G nnu-va members with the New York Harbor Healthcare System, at the Manhattan and Brooklyn campuses, recently won a grievance they filed nearly two years ago concerning uniform allowances. RNs who are not provided with a uniform are supposed to be given a one-time lump sum allowance during their first year of employment, and then a biweekly amount after their first year of employment. After NNU local leadership conducted an investigation, it was clear many RNs had not been receiving their uniform allowances. NNU quickly filed a grievance and demanded a full audit, which showed NNU was correct. After many meetings with management, more than 150 RNs have retroactively paid their uniform allowances. The total payments added up to more than $65,000. —Staff report JUNE 2013

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