{"id":597179,"date":"2023-01-13T10:50:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T16:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/nyc-nurses-will-strike-for-better-patient-care-good-for-them\/"},"modified":"2023-01-13T10:50:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T16:50:28","slug":"nyc-nurses-will-strike-for-better-patient-care-good-for-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/nyc-nurses-will-strike-for-better-patient-care-good-for-them\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Nurses Will Strike for Better Patient Care. Good for Them."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since\u00a0Monday morning<\/a>, more than 7,000 nurses from Mount Sinai Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center\u2014two private New York City health care systems\u2014have been on strike for better working conditions. The hospitals\u2019 workers are represented by the New York State Nurses Association, and their union contracts expired on December 31. Since then, the union has been asking the hospitals\u2019 management for fair wages and adequate staffing. But when negotiations late Sunday night fell apart, thousands decided to strike. Their actions reflect a larger trend of nurses stepping away from their jobs in order to demand safe, healthy environments\u2014for themselves, and for their patients.<\/p>\n

Montefiore issued a\u00a0statement<\/a> on Monday saying the company had offered a 19.1% wage increase to the nurses represented by the union, but nurses who are currently on strike tell SELF they won\u2019t go back to work without the adequate staffing that they need in order to know they can keep patients safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ana Reyes, a nurse who works on a surgical floor at Montefiore, says that many of her colleagues are overworked\u2014and exhausted by the toll the pandemic has taken. \u201cA lot of nurses have\u00a0PTSD<\/a> and are seriously burnt-out from\u00a0COVID<\/a>,\u201d Reyes tells SELF. As she sees it, staffing shortages have added stress to an already weakened workforce. \u201cI\u2019ve been here for 20 years, and I\u2019ve trained so many nurses over the years,\u201d Reyes says. \u201c[Now,] I\u2019m seeing them walk right out within six months. They\u2019re leaving us for other institutions where they see the staffing is appropriate.\u201d Reyes adds that Montefiore currently has about 700 nursing vacancies\u2014and that she fears more nurses will leave due to the chaos of the current strike. Similarly, Mount Sinai Hospital had more than 500 nursing openings as of last week, according to the NYSNA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reyes says that a single nurse in her role should only be in charge of five patients. However, due to staffing shortages, they\u2019re often asked to care for more. \u201cWe should be at a one-to-five ratio, but it has not been maintained,\u201d she says. Reyes alleges that, even when the one-to-five ratio is in place, nurses are asked to take on the tasks of other staff members, such as secretaries. \u201cWe\u2019re doing other people\u2019s jobs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Overworked nurses and their families aren\u2019t the only people affected by the current strain, Christine Higgins, a certified nurse-midwife at Montefiore, tells SELF. \u201cNurses are the largest constituents of our health care workforce; the brunt of the work inside health care is done by nurses,\u201d she says. \u201cYour nurse is the person who\u2019s providing you with education.\u201d That education includes explaining crucial information to patients, like how to monitor your blood pressure or how to safely swaddle your newborn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If nurses don\u2019t have enough hours in the day, very important questions patients need answers to can be overlooked. \u201cWhen we are put in a position where we are taking care of so many patients that we don\u2019t have the time to do more than the most rudimentary assessment, the patient suffers,\u201d Higgins says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has real consequences for anyone who relies on the health care system. Reyes says, \u201cBeing a nurse is making sure [patients are] getting better, [and] being able to see things before they go wrong, but now we don\u2019t have that\u2014we don\u2019t have the time to catch things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients aside, nurses themselves are in crisis, Reyes says. She says it\u2019s not unusual to work a 12.5 hour shift without a break, and that nurses are treated like machines: \u201c[It\u2019s] like, \u2018Let\u2019s put in another battery, because we\u2019re not allowed to take a bathroom break, have coffee, take a minute, check on your kids, your loved ones.\u2019 We don\u2019t get that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reyes adds that her patients often notice\u2014and comment on\u2014how overworked she is. \u201cI\u2019ve had patients look at me\u2014and they\u2019re in [a hospital] bed\u2014and they\u2019re like, \u2018You haven\u2019t taken a break. Please go eat something,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how we\u2019re getting support from the patients as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to showing compassion to nurses you come into contact with\u2014and all health care workers\u2014there are some concrete ways you can show support to nurses right now, both those on strike and those at work, regardless of where you receive your health care.<\/p>\n

How to show support to nurses on strike<\/h2>\n