Registered nurses at Oceanside, Calif.-based Tri-City Medical Center will hold a public action June 22 to express their concerns about staffing and the hospital's ability to recruit and retain RNs, according to a union statement.
The California Nurses Association, which represents more than 500 nurses at the medical center, said its members are complaining about inadequate staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting effects on turnover and morale. Nurses also contend that hospital management has not addressed their staffing concerns.
"Throughout the pandemic, nurses have confronted hospital management about the unsafe staffing and punitive work environment at Tri-City," Leticia Hallahan, neonatal intensive care unit RN, said in a news release. "We are disappointed that more has not been done to address these concerns. That is why we are standing up publicly and demanding that the hospital fix these staffing problems — because our community deserves safe patient care."
In response to the union members' public action, the Tri-City Healthcare District said it "is proud of the work of all of our healthcare heroes, and as always, patient and staff safety remain the utmost priority at our medical center. Like other healthcare providers across the country, we are aggressively recruiting qualified healthcare professionals from a highly competitive pool and continue to make progress every day."
The California Nurses Association is affiliated with National Nurses United, which has more than 175,000 members nationwide. Tri-City Medical Center is currently in negotiations with the union.