Nurses’ testimony powerful force for change
Don’t be shy, testify
By LENORE BORIS, R.N.
The testimonial of nurses is very powerful.
In November and December, a state Assembly committee held a series of hearings on safety and staffing in facilities of the state Offices of Mental Health and of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. The personal stories of PEF members who were victims of violent acts in the workplace highlighted safety and staffing concerns. Policymakers hearing their stories were moved by the brutality of these attacks, which might have been avoided if better staffing levels and procedures had been in place.
In fact, Assembly Member James Brennan, who chaired the hearings, thanked PEF and its members for giving especially valuable testimony.
When we put a personal face on facts and statistics, we help motivate the people with the power and authority to correct staffing and safety concerns. And we arm them with arguments to support their corrective actions.
Statistical evidence also is compelling. A
six- to nine-month delay in filling vacancies is
significant. A rising trend in violent acts by clients
against staff and other clients is worrisome. But none of
these is more influential than hearing the actual
experiences of individual PEF members.Day in and day out, direct-care nurses are experiencing the tremendous pressures of working short staffed. Nurses understand the detrimental effect this has on the quality of nursing care.
Furthermore, nurses know first-hand the safety issues that arise when there is insufficient staff. These pressures are difficult to appreciate through statistics alone. Nurses must help others to appreciate these problems by publicly discussing how these situations actually affect them and their clients.
Nurses have many opportunities to discuss their workplace concerns. In December, PEF members also testified at a hearing held jointly by other Assembly committees about how short staffing hurts patients in state nursing homes for veterans. Hearings are also planned on safety and staffing issues in state correctional facilities.
State legislators need to hear from nurses as they debate staffing, mandatory overtime and safety bills.
No less important is talking about staffing and safety problems in your own facility. It is true there is a national nursing shortage. Nevertheless, actions can be taken in the workplace to facilitate the delivery of nursing care.
The reassignment of administrative or security tasks to other personnel is one such action. Work-place conditions that detract from the time nurses have available to fulfill their professional responsibilities can and should be corrected. But corrective action will not begin until you call attention to the problem.
Sometimes, nurses are reluctant to speak publicly about their worries regarding staffing and safety. Fear of public speaking, concern they may be faulted and fear of retribution are common feelings that silence their voices.
But the voices of nurses describing their personal workplace struggles dealing with safety and staffing problems is very powerful. We must find our voice and use it to the benefit of our profession and, above all, our patients.
Not enough inspectors, nurses
Nursing-home workers warn of critical staff shortages
By SHERRY HALBROOK
What kind of care are the elderly receiving in state-run nursing homes? Care that is being seriously undercut by shortages of registered nurses and other health-care staff at facilities where every patient-bed is filled, according to PEF members testifying before an Assembly Committee at a Manhattan hearing in December.
And state inspections are too rushed to properly protect patients, the members say, because the state Health Department is desperately short of inspectors (called “surveyors”) to enforce the regulations designed to ensure quality care.
The Health Department concedes that it needs to hire more than 60 additional staff to conduct the inspections.
“Every state-operated nursing home for veterans is severely understaffed, compromising the quality of care,” PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran stated at the joint hearing of the Assembly Committees on Health and Aging.
Curran presented testimony for PEF Vice President Joe Fox, the union’s labor-management chair at the Health Department. Fox and other PEF members cite overall staff vacancies ranging from 25 percent to 38 percent at the state nursing facilities.
“The shortage of professional nurses is even more shocking,” Fox says. “For example, only 13 R.N.s are on staff to provide round-the-clock care for 250 patients at the state Home for Veterans in St. Albans, Queens. That means just seven R.N.s on the day shift, and two each for evenings and nights. It would take another 21 registered nurses to fill St. Albans’ vacancies in that title.”
Other PEF professionals speaking at the hearing include state Health Department surveyors Mary Ann Vincent, R.N. and August Cardinale, who testified to the damage done by the state’s eight-year hiring freeze and the constant pressure they are under to rush through inspections.
The union members outlined immediate actions the state should take to relieve the dangerous situation.
PEF recommended the state:
• Enact legislation establishing adequate nurse-to-patient ratios for all state nursing homes;
• Fill all existing nurse vacancies; and
• Consolidate the wide variety of civil-service titles for health-facility surveyors into a single title at a more competitive pay level, which should be easier to fill.