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Poll results

At the end of January, the Massachusetts Nurses Association labor union said at a press conference it had filed 600+ complaints against Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester with state and federal regulators, over concerns about low-staffing levels and the well-being of nurses and patients. MNA claimed Saint Vincent retaliated against some nurses for speaking out. The move came after a 301-day strike by the MNA nurses at Saint Vincent in 2021 and 2022, which largely centered around patient-to-nurse staffing ratios, a core issue for the MNA statewide.

Will the nurses' complaints against Saint Vincent impact the Worcester hospital's reputation?
No, this feels more like a publicity stunt by the labor union. (24%, 60 VOTES)
No, overall Saint Vincent is a high-quality healthcare provider. (11%, 27 VOTES)
Yes, this will impact people's willingness to work or receive care at Saint Vincent. (51%, 129 VOTES)
Yes, although the impact will be short term. (15%, 37 VOTES)
Poll Description

At the end of January, the Massachusetts Nurses Association labor union said at a press conference it had filed 600+ complaints against Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester with state and federal regulators, over concerns about low-staffing levels and the well-being of nurses and patients. MNA claimed Saint Vincent retaliated against some nurses for speaking out. The move came after a 301-day strike by the MNA nurses at Saint Vincent in 2021 and 2022, which largely centered around patient-to-nurse staffing ratios, a core issue for the MNA statewide.

  • 253 Votes
  • 1 Comments
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1 Comments

  • February 12, 2024

    Saint Vincent is undoubtedly a high quality institution with an excellent professional and support staff. With that said, Tenet’s approach to nurse staffing, much like other large proprietary health systems, relies on formulas and system wide benchmarks that fail to adequately account for the unique variables of individual hospitals including patient demographics, acuity, mix and demand as well as the availability of ancillary support and pool nurses, the frequency and duration of scheduled and unscheduled vacancies, and even the physical characteristics of the facilities and its equipment. As someone who spent over 30 years in executive roles in both large proprietary systems as well a small local systems and stand alone hospitals, I can say from experience that the level of nursing staff dissatisfaction is clearly greater in the large systems, and from my perspective the reason has much to do with a tendency to treat hospital staffing in those systems like the facility was manufacturing a product rather than taking care of people. Hospitals can and should take lessons from manufacturing when it comes to essential processes such as inventory control and supply chain management which support the facility’s primary function of taking care of patients. But when it comes to determining the staff needed to perform that primary function, a formulaic approach that a manufacturer might use to produce the identical product over and over again in a predetermined quantity and frequency, ignores the fact that patient clinical requirements are variable and patient care demand is unpredictable. Systems like Tenet have done great things to standardize the provision of certain aspects of care that have clearly improved patient outcomes, and they should continue those efforts. What they should not do, however, is forget that the most appropriate method for determining nursing staffing levels is giving nursing professionals well recognized staffing guidelines and tools and allowing them the flexibility to make reasonable accommodations based on the patient variables. Inflexible staffing mandates, whether they come from corporations or unions are not in a patient’s best interest.