Nurses at Grass Valley hospital put picketing on hold, citing progress on staffing issues
Registered nurses at Grass Valley’s Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital said Thursday they will postpone informational picketing that was scheduled for Friday, saying they have reached a preliminary agreement with management to address their staffing concerns.
The nurses, members of the California Nurses Association union, had planned to alert the public that the number of nurse aides had been cut by as much as half on some unit shifts, making it harder for the nursing team to reach patients in a timely manner.
“When patients call for assistance in going to the bathroom, the response is often delayed which is leading to an increase in falls,” Tracey Barbee, a nurse in the hospital’s telemetry unit, said in a news release earlier this month. “We are calling on management to restore staffing so our patients can be safe and well cared for.”
Dignity Health, a division of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, operates Sierra Nevada hospital. Dignity leaders emailed The Sacramento Bee last week, saying: “The care and safety of our patients is our top priority, and while we are disappointed in this decision, we remain committed to continuing to work with them to resolve any outstanding issues. There have not been any layoffs of registered nurses or clinical care partners (nurses aides) at Sierra Nevada, and we continue to recruit registered nurses to fill open positions.”
Barbee and other nurses also voiced concerns that Dignity planned to replace charge nurses – seasoned nurses charged with managing a ward – with managers who had no nursing experience. Charge nurses, the RNs said, can provide backup if patient loads unexpectedly increase.
The nurses said Thursday they were close to resolving all outstanding issues. CNA represents about 265 nurses at the Grass Valley hospital.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Nurses at Grass Valley hospital put picketing on hold, citing progress on staffing issues."
