![]() ![]() Resource nurses are also the nurses who can answer a call from a patient for water, help using the bathroom or help calling their loved one. Those are nurses who aren't assigned to a particular patient but are able to lend an extra hand in caring for patients or an extra set of eyes when monitoring patients. Now, they are mostly staffed three patients to one nurse, she said.Ĭritendon said there often aren't resource nurses available. "Our concerns fell on deaf ears."Ĭritendon said in her intensive care unit, a normal ratio would be two patients to one nurse. They wanted "safer patient care" and "better ratios for our patients," she said. "We realized that nurses' voices were not being heard," she said. Mental health: Stress of pandemic has added to mental health struggles for Austin-area nurses The COVID-19 effectĬritendon said there were things that the nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center wanted to address with management before the coronavirus pandemic struck, but the pandemic became the catalyst for a number of nurses to consider forming a union. "We do hope this movement will inspire other hospitals' nurses who want to give the highest quality care," Critendon said. Taylor Critendon, a registered nurse in the hospital's intensive care unit and part of the organizing effort, said she is not aware of union organizing efforts at other local hospitals, including other Ascension Seton properties. We are united in our commitment to care for our community and those that we are privileged to serve." About 2,500 nurses in Texas, including in hospitals in El Paso, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, are organized by the national unionĪscension Seton declined to make an executive available for an interview, instead providing a statement: "Consistent with the ethical and religious directives for Catholic Health Care Services, we respect our nurses’ right to organize themselves through union representation. It is the largest hospital in Texas to have formed a nurses union. This union measure - which passed with 72% voting in favor, 385 to 151 - only covers the nurses at this one hospital. The new unit of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United will cover about 800 nurses at the hospital. In total, NNU says 2,000 nurses will take action on June 27.Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin have voted to unionize. The local nurses will strike on the same day as nurses at two Ascension-operated hospitals in Witchita, Kan. “Management would rather once again spend money to solve a problem they’ve created and punish us for speaking up in the process.” “Nurses planned a one-day strike because, ultimately, patient care is our top priority,” Lindsay Spinney, a nurse in Ascension's neonatal intensive care unit, said in a statement. The union called the move a “ploy” to intimidate them. That means any nurse who goes on strike would not be able to return to work until July 1. The union was required to give Ascension 10 days' notice of a strike so the hospital could arrange for patient care.Īscension said Friday it had contracted with a staffing agency to temporarily replace the strikers, but that it was required to commit to at least four days of work for each employee. “Ascension management has the power to settle a strong contract now, if they are serious about staffing up and improving nurses’ ability to provide safe patient care.” “Ascension management pushed nurses to this position by failing to listen to or implement our solutions to address the staffing crisis,” Monica Gonzalez, a registered nurse in the neurology unit at Ascension Seton Medical Center, said in the statement. They say current workloads are causing burnout. In particular, nurses are focused on securing lower guaranteed nurse-to-patient ratios. Since voting to form the union in September, nurses at Ascension Seton have cited hiring and retention provisions as key issues at the bargaining table. The union has now delivered a legally required 10-day notice to hospital management.Īccording to the union, this would be the first strike by nurses in an acute care setting in state history and the largest strike by nurses in Texas. The hospital's 900-person nursing staff voted overwhelmingly June 1 to authorize a strike, citing a stalemate in negotiations between the union and Ascension Seton. Nurses at Austin’s Ascension Seton Medical Center will hold a one-day strike on Tuesday, June 27, according to a statement from the nurses' union, National Nurses United (NNU). ![]()
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