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MNA NewsScan, June 17, 2013: Patients suffer as hospital profits; LA plant where workers died was cited previously

17 Jun

LABOR UPDATES

OSHA To Investigate 2nd Plant Explosion in Louisiana    OSHA had cited the company for 14 alleged safety and health violations, 12 of which were described by the agency as serious.

HEALTH CARE

FBI:  Chicago Patients Suffer as For-Profit Hospital Frauds Medicare  “This complaint alleges the hospital and doctors were performing unnecessary invasive surgery to justify false billing.”

Children’s Hospitals Well-Positioned to Handle Reform  Standalone children’s hospitals have the financial fortitude to take reform challenges head on, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.

NOTES ON NURSING

Fewer Nurses, More Assistants in Montreal OR   At the end of that presentation, Richard Fahey, MUHC director of public affairs, handed journalists a USB stick containing nearly 600 pages of budget documents that spell out the cuts. Buried in those documents are plans to increase the use of nursing assistants in the ORs and other departments.

Crowd of Nurses Support Essentia Bargaining Team; Tentative Agreement Won in 33 Hr. Marathon

14 Jun
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More than 225 nurses and supporters showed up in red to support Essentia contract bargaining.

First there was the crowd.  Then there were the signs.  Then there were the red uniforms that adorned every man, woman, and child in the auditorium.  The scene was set for a champion sports team to walk in the room, but this huge crowd was there to see the contract negotiators.  When they entered the room, more than 225 nurses and their families cheered and applauded to show solidarity with their elected bargaining team at the Essentia-St. Mary’s contract talks and bid good morning to management’s team.  In the end, nurses won an agreement with management they could say is the result of  hard work by the negotiating team, but also because nurses showed Essentia that nurses are united and strong.

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Virginia nurses drove quite a ways to show solidarity with Essentia-St. Mary’s nurses.

“It was fabulous-awesome, just awesome,” said Mary Kirsling, RN, a member of the nurse negotiating team, “I was overwhelmed by the turnout.  We exceeded our expectations.”

Nurses at St. Mary’s used their well-established Member Action Teams (MATs) to map out the entire hospital.  They mobilized nurses to show up for the first day of negotiations using constantly refined lists of nurse’s names, emails, and phone numbers.   With the MAT data, nurses estimate they talked to 80 percent of all the nurses in the hospital just over the last 10 days.

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State legislators Jason Metsa and Erik Simonson of Duluth also showed up to show their support for negotiating nurses.

“We had people who were designated to come up and talk to people and commit to be here,” Kirsling said,  “almost everyone in the house, every unit has a representation steward, and so they would talk to all the people in their unit and get five people to commit to be here.”

Essentia nurses got a bonus too.  They supported St. Luke’s nurse contract bargaining team two months ago.  Now the St. Luke’s team showed up to repay the favor.

“Nurses from St. Luke’s and people from Virginia, that’s a long way to drive and it’s nice to feel that support,” Kirsling said.   “We’re going to show support for each other and we stand a lot more united today than we ever have in the history of MNA here.  In the state, I think we feel a lot more solidarity with each other.”

Essentia bargaining team

Essentia bargaining team

Nurses knew from talking to each other that there was a lot riding on this contract.  While wages are the main item on the table, Kirsling said nurses are standing together for time off to be properly educated to take care of their patients.  Her fellow bargaining team member agreed.

“Nurses can’t just wing it everyday, and you don’t want to wing it for our patients.  That’s not conducive to patient safety or good patient care,” said Kellie Brickson, RN, at Miller-Dwan, “you want educated nurses.  We have to be ready to take care of whatever situation comes in.”

Brickson and Kirsling mentioned the constantly changing state of technology as an issue that nurses fight to stay on top of.

“If we were given time to do our required education away from patient care, that would help us.  Sometimes we’re told that we just need to do it on downtime and we don’t always have downtime,” Brickson said.

Future nurses?

MNA nurses have strong family support too.

“I don’t know if there’s a day gone by in my nursing career of some 42 years that I haven’t learned something,” Kirsling said.

“We are here to settle our contract because it’s important for our patients and for safe patient care. We would like to get good language so that we are better able to serve our patients and keep our patients safe,” Brickson added.

The huge turnout for the team showed that wheels are in motion to get that.

MNA members in red

Sea of red prepares to greet hospital negotiators

“I think it totally set the stage.  Our CNO walked in and saw all those people with red on and knew that it wasn’t just 8 of us sitting at the table,” Kirsling said,  “there’s thousands of us sitting at that table.”

On the afternoon of June 11, after nearly 33 straight hours of negotiations, the nurses bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with Essentia Management. The elected RN negotiating team unanimously recommends the agreement to the bargaining unit.  Details include:

  • Across the board Raises 4.5% over the next three years-   2  / 1.5%  / 1 %
  • $500 bonus every year for the next 3 years for St. Mary’s –Miller Dwan & St. Mary’s Superior RNs as well as St. Mary’s Superior LPNs
  • Expansion of benefit bereavement leave and funeral leave for same sex partners
  • Kentucky River Language to protect Assistant Head Nurses and other Bargaining Unit RNs
  • Revision and renewal of staffing plan (grids) and other Letters of Understanding
  • Accretion of Superior LPN and RN’s into the St. Mary’s – Miller Dwan Contract

Pucker up to support Mora Nurses

13 Jun
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Mora OR nurses also played dress-up with red flair to show solidarity

Operating Room Nurses at First Light Health System in Mora started turning up in red lipstick while other nurses wore red scrubs to show support as negotiations began on a new contract.   Some nurses who couldn’t wear red expressed their solidarity with the bargaining leaders by dressing up their scrubs with a little red flair.

Negotiations began two weeks ago with nurses asking for more seniority rights, addressing scheduling issues, improvements in on-call pay and on-call process, and the use of remaining sick and vacation pay to be used to pay for continuing health coverage for retirees.

Bargaining Chair Margie Odendahl said they’re working to get more first choice shifts for senior nurses and for a percentage of on-call time to count towards seniority.

Nurses also demand that management hold to agreements the staffing committee has already worked out, such as no Friday shifts scheduled when a nurse has that weekend off-unless a nurse is called and asked to come in.

Mora Nurses

Mora nurses wear red in solidarity with bargaining team

Odendahl has been part of the negotiating team  for five contracts at the Mora hospital, and she’s seeing nurses get more involved and engaged than ever before.

“More than I expected.  Even with just 60 nurses in  our unit.  They are more engaged and willing to stand together to achieve a fair contract,”  and she added that  “nurses are saying if by standing together we can improve our contract and also improve patient care then , ‘let’s go for it.’”

Negotiations continue in July.

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Mora nurses bargaining team

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MNA NewsScan, June 12, 2013: NY, MA nurses advance patient safety standards;

12 Jun

NOTES ON NURSING

NY Bill Would Mandate Hospital Nurse Staffing   Advocates say required staffing of one nurse for every two intensive-care patients and 1-to-4 ratios in regular medical-surgical units will improve patient care, reduce deaths, complaints and readmissions and leave hospitals financially intact.

MA Nurses Ratify Contract with Assignment Limits   Highlights of the agreement include contractually 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.

Nurses Say High Sick and Overtime Costs Related to Nursing Shortages   Fewer, more stressed staff caring for sick patients means more workers get sick, she said, adding others work overtime to pick up the slack, causing more sickness — so the cycle continues.

HEALTH CARE

Top Health Insurance Bosses Earn Millions   The highest-paid executive at each of the “Big Five” health insurers — UnitedHealth Group, Aetna Inc., WellPoint Inc., Humana Inc. and Cigna Corp. — made more than $8 million each in 2012, according to filings this spring with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

LABOR UPDATES

U.S. Job Market Still Worse Than at Any Point During the Last Downturn   Right now, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, there’s approximately one job opening for every 3.1 unemployed persons who are looking for work. That ratio of jobs to jobless has improved an enormous amount since 2009. But to put things in perspective, it’s still worse than it was at any point during the last downturn, which started in 2001.

 

 

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Essentia Nurses Welcome Bargaining Teams

11 Jun

More than 225 nurses and supporters from St. Mary’s, Miller-Dwan, Virginia, and Superior hospitals showed up to welcome both nurse and management bargaining teams to the negotiating table as contract talks began Monday morning.  Nurse Kellie Brickson read an opening statement to management on behalf of MNA nurses.

Negotiations continue as of Tuesday morning.

MNA NewsScan, June 10, 2013: Long-term damage to health research from budget cuts

10 Jun

NOTES ON NURSING

AHRQ Seeks Comments From Patients to Help Develop Patient Safety Reporting System   There is a growing body of evidence that many adverse medical events go unreported in current systems.  One important reason for this reporting gap is that most reporting systems do not presently accept or elicit reports from patients and their families. AHRQ recognizes that the unique perspective of health care consumers could reveal important information that is not reported by health care providers. NOTE: Comment deadline is July 8, 2013

On the Wings of a Nightingale  Today I ran into a Mexican restaurant to grab a quick lunch, and as I ate my meal I came across a table of nurses wearing hospital scrubs. As they chatted amongst themselves I thought about the many nurses my family has interacted with over the last five years, and I found myself filled with such appreciation for what these amazing women and men do for us.

HEALTH CARE

Is Self-Rationing of Medications a Good or a Bad Thing?  In America, the conventional wisdom is that we don’t ration health care. But we do, and there’s no better example than patients rationing themselves when it comes to the medicines they take.

Research Forgotten by Budget Cuts   The N.I.H. funding is cut 5 percent, or $1.55 billion this year, across the board. That means 700 fewer research grants are approved and 750 fewer patients will be admitted to its clinical center. The longer the automatic cuts go on, the worse it will get; medical breakthroughs are rarely instant. They take years and build on previous studies and experiments.

LABOR UPDATES

Union Membership Decline Boosts Corporate Profit at Workers’ Expense   “It’s a zero sum game: whatever is not going to workers, goes to corporations,” Kristal said. “Union decline not only increased wage gaps among workers, but also enabled capitalists to grab a larger slice of the national income pie at the expense of all workers, including the highly skilled.”

MNA Legislative Recap

5 Jun

The 2013 legislative session ended last week with some significant improvements and changes to policies that affect nursing, health care and working families. In addition, with the change in legislative majorities to DFL control of the House and Senate, we did not have to fight off threats like Right to Work legislation, deep cuts to programs, or the Interstate Nurse Licensure Compact.

Safe Staffing

We made major progress toward our goal of minimum standards for nursing care in acute care hospitals. Our bill for a Department of Health study of the correlation between nurse staffing and patient health outcomes was signed into law by Governor Dayton. We are confident this study will validate what nurses have been saying for years: patients suffer when staffing is inadequate.

The bill will also require hospitals to report their staffing levels on a public website, which will provide transparency for the public.

Nurse Practice Act Changes

Governor Dayton signed into law a bill clarifying the scope of practice of Licensed Practical Nurses. The measure goes into effect on August 1. SF1016 was crafted after years of discussions between MNA, the Licensed Practical Nurse Alliance and the Board of Nursing. The final product clarifies and strengthens the Nurse Practice Act for both LPNs and RNs. Specifically, the law clarifies the definitions of assignment, delegation and unlicensed assistive personnel.

The Board of Nursing has committed to conducting education sessions for nurses on this issue. We will alert you when those opportunities are scheduled.

State Employee Contract

Last session the contract for over 700 MNA nurses in state facilities, agreed to by both management and employees, was voted down by the Republican-controlled legislature after continued attacks on public employees. During this legislative session the same contract was approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by Governor Dayton. Nurses at state facilities will see a 2 percent raise retroactive to this year.

Budget and Taxes

Minnesota now has a budget that invests in our future and protects the health of seniors and working families, while making the tax system fairer.

The top 2 percent of wage earners will pay about 2 percent more in taxes, which will raise $1 billion dollars; cigarette and other tobacco taxes will go up, which will raise another $600 million and hopefully convince some to quit; and the state will close corporate tax loopholes, which will raise $424 million.

Doing all that meant the Governor could sign an $11.2 billion health and human services budget bill, which includes a 5 percent rate increase for nursing homes next year-of which over half will go to workers who care for our seniors-along with another 3.2 percent increase by 2016.

MNCare will continue to provide high-quality affordable health care for working families in 2014 and beyond, making Minnesota the ONLY state that is continuing a public health coverage program in 2014 that will be able to transition to the Basic Health Plan option under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2015. Basic Health Plan financing offered through the ACA means our state budget will see significant savings starting in 2015.

Patients will benefit from improvements to MNCare including elimination of the $10,000 hospital cap, lower premiums and elimination of the waiting period to get on the program. Expansion of Medicaid will add health care coverage for 35,000 low-income people.

You are invited: Legislative Wrap-Up Briefing

Come learn more about the legislative session, including more in-depth information about the staffing study, at the MNA Legislative Wrap-Up Briefing.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 11, 4:00 – 5:30 pm

WHERE: At the MNA office in St. Paul, 345 Randolph Avenue, Suite 200, St. Paul 55102 or via webcast

This event is for MNA members only and requires an RSVP. Please contact Eileen Gavin at eileen.gavin@mnnurses.org and let her know if you plan to participate in person or online. (Online participants will need an RSVP code to join the event.)

MNA NewsScan, June 5, 2013: RN college degree equals lowest unemployment rate

5 Jun

NOTES ON NURSING

Night Shift Workers More Likely to Develop Type 2 Diabetes  ”It is surprising that just a single night shift can significantly impair glucose tolerance and increase insulin levels,” said Christopher Morris.

National Health System May Bring In Police Officers to Deal with Acute Nursing Shortage   A local forum has discussed the possibility of drafting in assistance from Police Scotland and the Red Cross.  Two months ago it was announced that 30 nursing posts had to be filled as soon as possible at the hospital.

New Law Raises Fines for Assaulting Nurses   Much like law enforcement, health care can be a very dangerous job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports more than 2,000 nurses nationwide were assaulted, and eight were killed while on the job between 2003 and 2009.

 

LABOR UPDATES

Not All College Degrees are Created Equal    For instance, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates in nursing was the lowest at 4.8 percent, while recent graduates in information systems, concentrated in clerical functions, were the hardest hit with an unemployment rate of 14.7 percent.

Meeting Friday to battle Synthetic Drug Problem

4 Jun

Cities across the state are grappling with what to do about synthetic drugs.  Staffers at public shelters in Duluth have caught more than 100 people smoking, snorting, or injecting synthetics in the past year even though city council members have battled with a local head shop to halt sales.

On Friday, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and a special Committee on Controlled Substances and Synthetic Drugs will meet in Duluth to develop some recommendations.

City and state leaders have fought again and again to stop these drugs that ER nurses and physicians say are turning people into zombies.  The trouble is, every time they outlaw a substance, the substance changes and becomes legal again.

Swanson and House Speaker Paul Thissen, who appointed the committee, have spearheaded the efforts to help communities stop the legal sales of synthetics.  Duluth state representative Erik Simonson, who calls synthetic drugs a “real threat,” is heading up the committee.

Lawmakers are looking for nurses and community members who can show the magnitude of the problem of synthetic drugs on Minnesota’s hospitals and cities.  Thissen hopes the public will be able to demonstrate the effects of abuse of prescription drugs as well.  A strong turnout will urge the rest of the legislature to enact a statewide solution next year.

The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. June 7 at the Sheraton Hotel in Duluth  More meetings are scheduled for in Brainerd and on the Iron Range, and the committee is expected to issue report with recommendations next February.

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MNA NewsScan, June 3, 2013: RN concern for patient safety is worldwide

3 Jun

NOTES ON NURSING

In Australia, Nurses Fight for Patient Ratios   “You’re less likely to have the nursing hours you need the further you are from the city,” Miss Telfer said.

NSW Midwives Issued “Cease and Desist” on Patient Limits Despite Shortages      ”We accept there is a shortage of midwives out there but management needs to understand that not only are staff at Nepean exhausted, they are deeply concerned that health care is being compromised. They have reached their limit and cannot continue on in this way.”

HEALTH CARE

The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill   In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending, even though numerous studies have concluded that Americans do not get better care.

Hospital CEOs See Double Digit Pay Hikes   A recent survey by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm based in Redwood City, Calif., found that — for the fourth time in five years — health care chief executives commanded the highest pay packages last year among publicly traded companies.

Violence Against Women is a Serious Public Health Problem   IPV and domestic violence figures among the top ten global causes of years of life lost due to premature mortality and disability. The consequences of IPV are far reaching, insidiously destructive and have a widespread negative socioeconomic impact.

Trapped in a Hospital Bed  But one number sent a murmur through the auditorium anyway: 43 minutes. That’s the median time a hospitalized elderly patient spends standing or walking daily, Dr. Brown and her colleagues reported in 2009.

LABOR UPDATES

Scores of Workers Die in Chinese Poultry Plant Fire    Explosions and fire tore through parts of a poultry plant in northeast China on Monday, killing at least 119 people in one of the country’s worst factory accidents in recent years.

OpEd:  Reaching Milestone of Working Women Still Finds U.S. Last Among Rich Nations in Supporting Working Families     After 50 years, shouldn’t we stop debating whether we want mothers to work and start implementing the social policies and working conditions that will allow families to take full advantage of the benefits of women’s employment and to minimize its stresses?

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