Brigham and Women's nurses to hit picket line over staffing concerns
BOSTON - Nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital are sounding the alarm on patient care and hitting the picket line Wednesday. "We don't have enough staff to care for the patients," RN Jim McCarthy said, calling the situation dangerous.
Those concerns raised in more than 500 reports nurses filed in 2022 claiming patient safety was jeopardized because of staffing. The complaints obtained by the I-Team claim on one day in October, the emergency department was short 5 nurses; on another day in July a unit was down 6 nurses and last June, a floor that should have had 20 nurses only had 16.
"We filed unsafe staffing because it helps keep them accountable to state," McCarthy said. "It is a good thing for nurses, it helps protect their license because they're saying look here's the warning to the management we are unsafe right now so we shouldn't be running as a floor with the staff that we have."
A hospital spokesperson tells the I-Team like other health care organizations it is experiencing staffing challenges.
In a statement, the spokesperson said: "Providing high-quality, safe, and compassionate care to our patients is at the very core of our mission. We deeply value our nursing staff whose expertise and skill benefit all who come through our doors. While hospitals and healthcare organizations nationwide are facing unprecedented staffing challenges and pandemic-related fatigue, we've implemented a multi-faceted response to these challenges related to patient volume, acuity, and staffing to best support our incredible staff while providing comprehensive care to patients during what is an extremely challenging period in healthcare nationwide."
And as afar as "unsafe" conditions, the spokesperson said: "Delivering safe, high-quality care is our highest priority. There are processes in place for nurses to escalate immediate concerns and for leaders to respond and provide support and coverage. We investigate every staffing concern form and provide a follow-up report to the nurse with the actions that were taken if warranted. Our nursing vacancy is lower than the national average at 6.8% compared to the national average of 13% and we've added 550 nurses to our staff over the last year."
Nurses admit more staff has been added but say with post pandemic fatigue many are leaving the profession in droves. "Because of the stress, the stress level in the hospital," McCarthy said. "You work really hard for your license; you don't want to put yourself in a dangerous situation where that license could be taken away. We need more nurses."
The Mass Nurses Association calls Wednesday's protest outside the hospital an information picket. It is not related to contract negotiations. Nurses signed a new agreement with the hospital last year.