Registered nurses at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs will join their colleagues at five other Tenet-operated hospitals in the state Thursday for a one-day strike to protest what they call a refusal by ownership to improve patient care and staffing.
Nurses will picket from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, with the strike to last until 7 a.m. Friday at the hospital at 1150 N. Indian Canyon Drive. A total of 3,100 nurses at six hospitals are expected to take part in the strike, according to the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United union.
Tenet officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At Desert Regional Medical Center, union officials contend staffing has been cut below state-mandated patient ratios in the neonatal intensive care unit. Union officials say the hospital received a state waiver that is usually only granted in emergency situations to operate below the mandated staffing level.
“We demand safe staffing for our precious babies and that Tenet live up to its stated values of acting with integrity and the highest ethical standards, always,” Deb Edwards, a registered nurse at Desert Regional, said in a statement.
The nurses also called for:
— guaranteed meal and rest break coverage;
— improvements in recruiting and retention of experienced nurses;
— dedicated staff for the task of lifting patients to help reduce injury to patients and nurses; and
— safe staffing at all times.
Union officials said Tenet Healthcare Corp. made $4.1 billion in profits last year and CEO Saum Sutaria made more than $24 million as the highest-paid health care CEO in the county.
“It’s clear to the nurses that Tenet is prioritizing profits over patients,” Joeton Labos, an ICU nurse at San Ramon Medical Center, said in a statement.
CNA has been in contract negotiations with Tenet since February.
These are longstanding issues in the medical field nationwide, so we all should support the staff who are asking for reasonable changes that will benefit patient care.
Sadly, the greedy corporate CEOs do everything that they can to protect their outrageous “salaries” at the cost of treating health care workers like crap and risking safe patient care!