National Nurses United

MASSACHUSETTS R egistered nurses who work at a number of UMass Memorial Health Care facilities represent- ed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United held a press conference in July to voice their concerns about a growing system-wide patient safety crisis. They called for the system's CEO to take immedi- ate action to rescind and reverse plans to cut staff and eliminate and consolidate services in nearly every UMass/Health Alliance- owned facility—plans the nurses believe are degrading the quality and safety of care for every patient entering the UMass Memori- al/Health Alliance system. "We are here today, with other members of this embattled system, to appeal to our CEO to heed our warnings and to work with us, not against us, as we all strive to fulfill our ultimate mission, which is to protect and provide healing to the patients of Central Massachusetts," said Ellen Smith, RN, a critical care nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center's University campus who was one of four nurses from different UMass Memorial-owned facilities who spoke at the press conference. Despite posting profits of more than $80 million in 2013 and more than $300 million over the last five years, UMass CEO Eric Dickson has endorsed cost-cutting measures and the reorganization of patient care serv- ices based on a manufacturing model borrowed from the auto industry. There have been countless rounds of layoffs and service closures at the UMass Memorial facilities in Worcester; cuts to the urgent care and cancer centers on the Burbank campus in Fitchburg; layoffs of staff and poor patient care conditions at the Marlbor- ough Hospital campus; and at Leominster Hospital, plans have been introduced that would downsize staff and increase patient assignments in nearly every department. "As registered nurses, we provide 90 percent of the clinical care our patients receive in our hospitals. We are the nurses who bear witness to the suffering of our patients, need- less suffering caused by administrative neglect and the callous focus on the bottom line over patient care," said Lynne Starbard, a maternity RN at the UMass Memorial Medical Center's Memorial campus. Jayne Biddy, a nurse at Marlborough Hospital for more than 40 years, took pains to describe the impact of what she charac- terized as the hospital's "slash-and-burn management tactics." "What does such a slash-and-burn tactic look like inside of a hospital?" Biddy asked rhetorically. "It looks like one RN caring for three patients at a time in the ICU, or one RN simultaneously caring for six, seven, or even eight patients on a medical/surgical floor. It looks like a patient being 14 to 31 percent more likely to suffer an injury or die as a result. It looks like an emergency department where cuts to RN staffing result in longer waits for care and an increased chance that patients will be 'boarded' in the ED rather than moving to a medically appropriate floor." RN Colleen Wolfe, who works on the UMass Memorial Medical Center's campus, followed with her own reports of compro- mised patient care following cuts there. "In what was our seventh round of layoffs in three years, our entire IV team was abol- ished," said Wolfe, who noted the decision came despite a letter of opposition signed by hundreds of nurses. "Our IV team was made up of long-term, expert RNs dedicated to the specialty of IV placement and care across all clinical settings. They set the stan- dard for excellence in IV care." Now, explained Wolfe, patients are enduring multiple sticks and many are harmed by complications such as phlebitis and serious tissue injury requiring a plastic surgeon. For Linda Grossi, an emergency depart- ment nurse at UMass/Health Alliance Leominster Hospital, the main goal for nurses there is to prevent proposed cuts from being made at the one facility in the UMass system that is actually providing good care. At Leominster, management is seeking to cut staff in the emergency depart- ment, pediatric and maternity units, and to increase patient assignments on the medical-surgical floors. "Ironically, up until now, Leominster Hospital has been the hospital within the UMass system with the best rate of positive patient outcomes, as well as the lowest rate of preventable readmissions," Grossi explained. "Does management really believe that these achievements will be sustainable if it imple- ments those short-sighted proposals?" Following the press conference, a delega- tion of nurses marched to the offices of UMass Memorial Health Care CEO Eric Dickson to deliver a letter detailing their concerns and demanding that he take immediate action to end this system-wide patient safety crisis. In recognition of Dickson's history as a physician who practiced alongside many of the nurses, the nurses' letter stated, "As a physician…we are appealing to you personally and professionally to work with us to uphold your own sworn oath to 'first, do no harm,' or in this case, to stop the incredible harm your policies are causing our patients, your employees and the communities we serve." Nurses also plan to take out ads in local papers, to continue to meet with and engage local and state public officials about their concerns, and to engage in other communi- ty-based efforts to educate the public about the dangers these changes pose to the health of patients seeking care at these facilities. —David Schildmeier J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 5 Umass RNs demand reversal of staffing, service cuts

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