On Wednesday, registered nurses protested outside the ability, accusing Good Samaritan Hospital and its parent company HCA Healthcare of jeopardizing patient care. They alleged the health care provider failed to deal with staffing shortages and inadequate meal breaks.
The California Nurses Association said hospital management had not yet adequately addressed greater than 100 cases of unsafe staffing conditions or missed breaks, claiming the health agency was putting profits over people.
“We take care of a lot of sick people, and as a nurse I only have two hands,” said Chris Shulga, a registered nurse on the hospital for greater than 12 years. “I can only do as much as these two hands can do. So when we have seriously ill patients, we simply need more people. We need more bodies, we need more hands and we need more minds just to do all the tasks required for these very sick patients. We are not given the opportunity to care for your family members in this hospital.”
At the guts of the issue is compliance with Title 22, the federal regulations that set the required ratio of registered nurses to patients. The nurses gathered outside the hospital also accused the hospital of attempting to game the system to make it appear that it was complying with regulations. At the identical time, they said the fact reflects that nurses are getting used for other duties since the hospital can also be understaffed in other positions, which has affected the hospital's ability to offer care in a timely manner.
“It looks like they're actually giving their numbers, but that's not the case,” said registered nurse John Pasha. “What I mean by them making their numbers is that they hit everyone and do it in a reasonable amount of time. But they delay treatment for hours and hours, so things like medications are delayed, and then there will be an increase in pressure sores, which are usually caused by things like that. When we start losing bedside nurses, other things fall by the wayside.”
HCA Healthcare denied the allegations in an announcement to The Mercury News.
“Facts matter, especially in healthcare,” said a spokesperson for Good Samaritan Hospital. “We fully appreciate the incredible work our nurses do, so it is disappointing that their union leadership chooses to misrepresent the care they provide. To be clear, Good Samaritan Hospital is 100% compliant with Title 22 requirements, hired 83 nurses in 2024, reduced nursing staff turnover by nearly 7%, and is ranked among the top 100 hospitals in America each year according to Healthgrades. Our hospital, our nurses and our doctors are here 24 hours a day, every day, to care for our community.”
HCA's history in San Jose, particularly because it pertains to operations on the Regional Medical Center, has change into a hot topic amongst nurses and residents.
Earlier this yr, HCA initially decided to shut the trauma center at Regional Medical Center before changing course and downgrading it from a Level II facility to a Level III facility. At the time, doctors and nurses were outraged by the HCA due to its impact on residents in East San Jose, who were forced to travel longer distances to receive treatment for more serious procedures. While Santa Clara County stepped in on the last minute to purchase the hospital and save the trauma center, critics of HCA say its actions are further evidence of its business model and that the corporate is putting patient well-being above profits.
The unresolved concerns facing HCA were highlighted at a recent San Jose Planning Commission meeting, where the advisory panel really useful the City Council deny its request to rezone the Good Samaritan campus to accommodate a brand new facility in compliance with state regulations to ascertain earthquake laws and expand operations.
Several commission members said HCA's profit motive harms residents and wondered what would stop Good Samaritan from cutting more services, because it did when it closed its psychiatric unit.
Although the Planning Commission's decision was purely symbolic for the reason that City Council is the ultimate arbiter, some nurses were pleased to listen to San Jose officials defy the HCA.
“It is a very profitable institution, and if you expand it, it will only become more profitable,” Pasha said. “The problem is that if we can't staff it now and they cut corners now with the size they have now, how are they going to not cut corners over time? They have simply proven that they will do anything to save money, not by innovating more, but by eliminating their work.”
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com