June 11: View from Inside Methodist Hospital

On Friday morning, Methodist Hospital returned striking nurses back to work — but it wasn’t a smooth transition for patients or nurses.  Nurses filed a number of Concern for Safe Staffing reports as well as internal quality tracking reports about compromises in patient care.  Nurses anxious to return to their patients on med-surg floors were held in conference rooms for as long as two and one-half hours and when they finally got to the floor, found that patients hadn’t received morning medications on time and that other patient care needs hadn’t been met in a timely manner.