Fighting for Safe Staffing

For years, NYSNA members have been fighting for safe staffing, in Albany and at the bargaining table. But the CoVID-19 pandemic has made it painfully clear what nurses and healthcare professionals have always known, that safe staffing saves lives. Since the beginning of this crisis, NYSNA members have continued their fight to make sure hospitals and nursing homes had the bedside staffing that New Yorkers deserve.

Before the first CoVID case appeared in New York, for example, we were pressing hospitals to make plans for increased staffing on critical care units, and for coverage should nurses and other staff fall ill. And during the springtime surge, NYSNA members were outspoken about the fact that short staffing was putting patient safety at risk and contributing to the stark racial disparities in hospitalizations and deaths from CoVID-19.

iNorthWell-liJ Valley streaMi

fronTline exPerTise

In August, NYSNA members testified in front of the state legislature, documenting the way staffing cuts eroded patient care in nursing homes and hospitals. NYSNA leaders also called for more transparency from both healthcare institutions and the New York State Department of Health, including releasing critical facility-level data required for an independent assessment of the state’s response to the CoVID-19 surge.

NYSNA members were also organizing facility by facility, to enforce safe staffing standards in our contracts and address acute staffing shortages on key units.

For example, in July nurses at erie County Medical Center forced their hospital to fill vacant positions they won in their last contract, including hiring 14 new nurses in the eR. After Westchester Medical Center nurses spoke out about staffing shortages in the new Children’s Hospital, they secured 10 new positions and spread their staffing campaign to other specialty areas.

NYSNA members at NYC Health + Hospitals also got a jump start enforcing the groundbreaking staff ratios in their new contract, document staffing problems and convening local nurse practice councils to ensure hiring targets are identified and recruitment begins well in advance of July 2021, when their staffing ratios are fully implemented.

safe sTaffinG leGislaTion

And following our success in the November elections, NYSNA is preparing to make a major push in the 2021 legislative session for safe staffing. CoVID-19 has made it clear that uniform statewide staffing standards are essential to improving patient outcomes, reducing racial disparities, and saving lives.

Above: NYSNA leader Judy Johnson, RN, from Rutland Nursing Home testified before the legislature on staffing conditions in New York’s nursing homes.

ist. elizabeth’s Medical ceNter, Uticai