Patient Safety | 11.02.23
Prime Hospital Plan Would Violate State Staffing Ratios, Union Says
by Becker’s Hospital Review
According to members of the California Nurses Association and the Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union, Prime Healthcare's Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif., recently proposed a new staffing plan that would violate the state's staffing ratio law and put patients at unnecessary risk. Together, the two unions represent approximately 600 registered nurses, pharmacy, radiology and lab technicians along with environmental services workers and licensed vocational nurses. Prime, headquartered in Ontario, Calif., and the nonprofit Prime Healthcare Foundation serve people in 14 states with almost 50,000 employees and physicians total. Union members charge that staffing issues have persisted and that the issue will only worsen if a proposal is implemented to require nurses on all floors -- except the intensive care unit -- to be responsible for 10 patients by assigning RNs to provide direct care for five patients and to oversee the care of five additional patients and LVNs. "This is a flagrant violation of the state's safe staffing law," says Michelle Gaffney, RN. "This staffing change is irresponsible."
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