Demanding that the hospital industry invests in safe staffing and that President Biden fulfills his campaign promise to protect nurses and prioritize public health, National Nurses United (NNU), the largest RN union in the United States, is calling for nurses to take part in actions across the country on January 13. Among the activities planned for this Thursday, the NNU will conduct a national virtual press conference at 1.00 PM EST and hold a candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C. for nurses who lost their lives to Covid-19.
“This is a vicious cycle where weakening protections just drives more nurses away from their jobs.”
—Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN, President, NNU
A perfect storm is brewing, according to NNU nurses. The Biden administration has “ripped away critical protections“ from health care workers and the public, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has weakened Covid isolation guidelines, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) plans to withdraw critical Covid protections for health care workers—right when the Omicron variant is exploding across the country and hospitalizations are skyrocketing. The NNU states that leaving nurses unprotected by the government and by profit-driven hospital employers which have failed to invest in safe staffing and critical health and safety protections, has created unsafe working conditions that are driving nurses out of the profession.
Nurse retention will rise when hospitals set safe staffing levels
NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN suggests that the nurse staffing crisis—while it may have been exacerbated by the pandemic—is primarily a consequence of hospitals prioritizing dollars above human lives. In a statement, Triunfo-Cortez said, “As we enter year three of the deadliest pandemic in our lifetimes, nurses are enraged to see that, for our government and our employers, it’s all about what’s good for business, not what’s good for public health. Our employers claim there is a ‘nursing shortage,’ and that’s why they must flout optimal isolation times, but we know there are plenty of registered nurses in this country. There is only a shortage of nurses willing to work in the unsafe conditions created by hospital employers and this government’s refusal to impose lifesaving standards. So this is a vicious cycle where weakening protections just drives more nurses away from their jobs.”
NNU conducted a survey of thousands of registered nurses across the country from October to December 2021. Of the nurses who responded, 83 percent said at least half of their shifts were unsafely staffed, and 68 percent said they have considered leaving their position. RNs say nurses would stop leaving the profession if hospitals immediately improved working conditions by increasing staffing levels and followed nurses’ advice to grow the pool of available nurses. According to nurses, hospitals must actively hire permanent staff nurses and consider a wider range of educational qualifications; stop canceling nurses; properly cross-train current staff nurses so that they are competent to work in other departments, especially critical care, and institute optimal occupational health and safety protocols to protect nurses, other health care workers, and patients.
Schedule for Thursday, Jan 13
What: Virtual press conference, featuring national nurse stories
When:Thursday, Jan. 13, 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT
Who: Registered nurses from across the United States
Nurses also call on the CDC to strengthen isolation guidelines for health care workers and the public, and on OSHA to institute a permanent Covid health care standard without delay. On Jan. 5, NNU joined leading labor organizations and unions representing the country’s nurses and health care workers to petition the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order OSHA to issue a permanent standard and to retain the emergency temporary standard until the permanent standard goes into effect. Without the protections of a permanent standard, RNs emphasize that the health and well-being of nurses, other health care workers, patients, and the general public is in grave danger.
“Everyone will need medical care at some point in their lives, and when our loved ones are in the hospital, we want nurses to be able to deliver the focused care that all patients deserve,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN, NNU executive director. “But the working conditions that our employers and the federal government are telling nurses and health care workers to endure are both grossly unfair and unsustainable, and we are standing up on Jan. 13 to say, ‘Enough!’ We need permanent protections based on science, and we need them now because when nurses and health care workers aren’t safe, we cannot keep our patients safe.”
In a year in which so many nurses displayed bravery, suffered hardships, and shone in countless ways, DailyNurse might easily have featured a “Nurse of the Day” instead of a Nurse of the Week.
Nurses have always gone the extra mile to communicate with patients and make them feel more comfortable and cared for, and we all know former patients who were so inspired by their nurses that they decided to enter the profession themselves. As 2020 raised the curtain on the Year of the Nurse, though, no one could have anticipated it would be a watershed year in which nurses became global icons of hope and courage.
Whether You’re a Hero, or Merely Awesome, Take a Bow…
Boston HCWs celebrate arrival of Covid-19 vaccine in December.
The public has long admired nurses, but this year, the world has watched nurses brave the pandemic to work in seemingly impossible conditions, act as stand-ins for patients’ absent families, and leave home to speed to the relief of overwhelmed hospitals all over the US.
Nonetheless, many of our 2020 Nurses of the Week (NotW) eschewed the word “hero.” If you glance at remarks from our 2020 Nurses of the Week, you might note that while they take pride in their work, few sound like they are ready to accessorize their mask with a Superman cape. Naturally, they are happy to see their work recognized, but nurses constantly go out of their way to make patients feel less frightened and alone. As frontliner Tabatha Kentner said, “This is what we do. This is why we’re here.” Nurses save lives—and when they cannot, they comfort patients in their final hours and console distraught families. It’s not an occasional phenomenon; it is an everyday occurrence. The name and photo in Wednesday’s NotW feature could easily be your own because your expertise and empathy make you a Nurse of the Week every day of the year.
On the last Wednesday of 2020, DailyNurse salutes the Nurses of the Week who made their mark during the Year of the Nurse!
Great (and Caring) Communicators
RN Emily Fawcett, Lenox Hill Hospital, NYC.
A recurring theme is nurses who use their unique talents to raise patients’ and staff members’ spirits. Some, like Marc Perreault and Lori Marie Kay, shared their musical gifts. At Lenox Hill Hospital during the height of the New York City outbreak, Emily Fawcett helped boost morale in her ICU by meeting with staff for positive-thinking “hope huddles” before starting their shifts.
Danielle Fenn applied her language skills to comfort non-English speaking Covid patients. Others, like Tabatha Kentner, have been acting as “angels” (the word angel comes from the Greek angelos, which means “messenger”) and facilitating virtual visits so patients and their loved ones can commune even in isolation (and when necessary, say their final goodbyes).
Advocates and Public Servants
RN Andrea Dalzell on Good Morning America.
2020 was a year in which nurses stepped forward, spoke up, and got involved in public and civic health. Expect to see more of this in 2021 and years to come (we hope!). Metastatic breast cancer survivor Stephanie Walker is tirelessly advocating for cancer patients and patient education in North Carolina. Another indefatigable advocate, Andrea Dalzell, is on a mission to invite wheelchair-bound people to enter the nursing profession.
NYPD’s new Special Victims Unit head Michael King is a veteran SANE—and he is determined to improve the treatment of rape victims by police and other first responders. American Academy of Nursing (AAN) “Living Legend” Mary Wakefield is sharing her public health expertise and experience in the Obama administration with the Biden-Harris transition team.
Another AAN “Living Legend,” 85-year-old Marie Manthey, is promoting frank, open dialogues between Black and White nurses, and calling upon all White allies to combat structural racism and unconscious bias.
Frontline Troopers
Anna Slayton, BSN, RN-BC
Tens of thousands of nurses this year packed their bags and took off to lend a hand in the nation’s hotspots. Reports on horrific conditions in hard-hit city hospitals were a virtual Bat-Signal for many nurses. They stashed extra masks in their suitcases, said goodbye to their loved ones, and flew to the most dangerous hotspots in the country (even nurses who had never been on a plane before!).
Texas nurse Anna Slayton, who parted from her family to spend 77 days on the New York frontlines, felt compelled to help, telling DailyNurse, “I ultimately knew it was my duty.” And in April, after flying from Tennessee to a desolate—but noisily grateful—NYC, ED nurse Kirsten Flanery declared, “I made the right decision on coming up here. I’m ready to make a difference!”
Difficult Takes a Day, Impossible Takes a Week
LPN Felicia Shaner and daughters.
Many nurses combine massive multitasking efforts with hard work to pursue their studies, and some fight to overcome dire health and financial obstacles in their quest to start a nursing career. Felicia Shaner was so drawn to the profession that she embarked on her nursing studies while living in a homeless shelter… with a toddler and a baby on board! degrees while working as hospital custodians. Rebel NurseJalil Johnson (of Show me Your Stethoscope fame) had spent his last $5 when he enrolled in an LPN program. And Brianna Fogelman had a lung transplant in her junior year of nursing school and took her nursing finals with a tube in her chest.
Is There a Nurse in the House?
Former CCN/Cardiac Care nurse Hollyanne Milley and spouse.
2020 was also a year in which nurses acted as first responders in unexpected times and places. Pamela Zeinoun saved the lives of three premature infants after the devastating August 4 explosions in Beirut. Indiana trauma nurse Colby Snyder rushed to the assistance of two people who collapsed in public within a 3-week period: the first had a seizure at her grocery store, and the second fell while Snyder was volunteering at the polls on Election Day.
Former CCN/cardiac care nurse Hollyanne Miley (whose husband is Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley) is also a good person to have at hand when out-of-the-blue seizures occur. And VA nurse Maria VanHart impressed “official” first responders by her swift, efficient, and empathic treatment of survivors at the scene of a fatal highway accident.
DailyNurse salutes all of its readers, and all nurses. If you know of someone who warrants a Nurse of the Week nod, send your suggestion to [email protected]. Best wishes for a happier, healthier, evidence-based New Year!
Nurse of the Week Hollyanne Milley was in the right place at the right time on Veterans Day! For Milley, who is married to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, attendance at the Arlington National Cemetery annual wreath laying ceremony is routine, but the tradition was disrupted this year when a veteran collapsed and lost conciousness.
Fortunately, Milley is a veteran of sorts herself, having worked for over 30 years in the nursing profession. Her 18 years in critical care and 15 years as a cardiac care nurse have accustomed her to taking prompt action, and she immediately attended to the fallen old soldier. While she and her husband were waiting for the President and Vice President to arrive, she heard the vet fall to the ground and ran over to help. “There were just a few people around him. He was not responsive and couldn’t speak, and he had very labored breathing that was not actually moving air into his lungs,” she told CNN later. Milley instructed someone to call 911 and set to work. Unable to find the vet’s pulse, she performed two cycles of CPR chest compressions. “He took a big spontaneous breath and a big groan on his own, and he started moving air,” she recalls. “After a few breaths, he started coming around.”
The stricken veteran wishes to remain anonymous, but he did not hesitate to thank Milley for reviving him. The former nurse told CNN, “He is grateful that he will be here next year to honor those who served, and said, ‘Because a bystander knew CPR, that’s why I’ll be able to continue honoring our veterans for many years to come.” Milley’s husband, General Mark Milley said that his wife is “representative of the hero medical professionals who are always there when we need them. She represents the strength and service of our military families.”
Click here to see the CNN story on Hollyanne Milley’s eventful Veterans Day.
