MNA Nurses fill out hundreds of Concern For Safe Staffing forms online each month. The story below is just one example of how unsafe staffing conditions inside Minnesota hospitals continue to have negative – and sometimes even deadly – consequences for patients and nurses. (Note: Due to HIPAA privacy laws for patients and concerns for potential workplace retaliation by employers against RNs, we do not identify the specific nurse and/or patient(s) involved in each story in this space.)
Today’s Story: The night shift was 7 nurses short so assignments were again increased. Requiring nurses to take additional patients to their already heavy loads was totally unsafe. A nurse on the unit with a dying baby was given another patient, severely limiting her ability to provide comfort to the family. I had a baby who would be finishing antibiotics, and then could go back to the newborn nursery, but I was unable to obtain any orders for transfer and required treatments during the shift, so the baby stayed in our unit under my care. (Later) I was notified that I would be getting a 35 week old admit and another patient who was on a ventilator and had a chest tube. This infant had (received) 1:1 care on the previous shift. I was unable to obtain any orders for the 35 week old infant for 1.5 hours because the providers (nurse practitioners) got called to two simultaneous deliveries of premature infants. Assignments were completely unacceptable. A patient who is dying should never be paired with another infant. I was unable to assist any of my co-workers and they were unable to assist me. Nurses did not get breaks, although (pizza) was ordered by management as a consolation. We want more nurses, not food! Our patients deserve quality care and they are not getting it!
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