Staffing & Workloads
Understaffing is a difficult and complex problem that directly
affects the delivery of quality patient care in our nation’s hospitals. This is
especially true today, where hospitals are increasingly concerned with profits
and financial considerations, which leads to short staffing and workload
problems that are driving dedicated and passionate healthcare workers out of the
industry.
We're trying to do our jobs the way we were trained, but we’re finding it
almost impossible because we're working on chronically understaffed units. By
forming unions, we can work together to improve staffing and workloads. Here’s
how.
We negotiate minimum staffing guidelines.
Staffing and
workload standards that include minimum staffing ratios, patient care
committees, and other innovative staffing solutions are being negotiated into
union contracts.
We make joint decisions through a union-management
committee.
Hospital employees and nurses are participating in
staffing decisions through these committees, where staff and managers meet
regularly as equals and work to resolve staffing and standards issues.
We set up problem-solving avenues.
With union support,
hospital employees and nurses have formal and informal avenues for addressing
staffing and workload issues.
We work to change legislation.
From state capitals to the
U.S. Congress, SEIU Nurse Alliance members are making sure our voice is heard.
We're helping to pass laws that provide concrete solutions to the staffing
crisis, like the landmark legislation in California calling for minimum staffing
levels in health care facilities.
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