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
- Where: The virtual press conference will be viewable here.
- What: NNU nurses hold Washington, D.C. candlelight vigil for fallen nurses
- When: Thursday, Jan. 13, 6 p.m. ET
- Where: Lafayette Square, Pennsylvania Ave. NW and 16th St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20001
Click here to see a list of NNU local Jan. 13 actions across the United States.
“We need permanent protections based on science”
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.”
