Registered nurses from UPMC Altoona (Pa.) will launch a 24-hour protest Dec. 15 outside of UPMC headquarters in Pittsburgh to demand that the health system immediately address what they called a staffing crisis at their facility, according to the union that represents them.
A news release from the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, which represents the nurses, claims that emergency department wait times have surged to 24 hours at UPMC Altoona. The news release also referenced an Altoona Mirror story in which an Altoona city council member referenced a 56-hour emergency department wait time warning recently issued to his relative.
"Nurses are well aware that hospital systems across the state and country are over capacity, with long-time staffing challenges brought to crisis by the COVID-19 pandemic," the union said. "But while front-line nurses are proud to show up every day and do more to serve their patients, often with less support and resources than ever before, nurses say that major health systems like UPMC have a responsibility to rise to the occasion."
UPMC, a fully integrated $23 billion global health system, disputed reports of 50-hour wait times to start care or a 24-hour interval to begin care at the UPMC Altoona emergency department and all UPMC hospital emergency departments.
In a statement shared with Becker's, Paul Wood, vice president and chief communications officer for UPMC, said, "Due to high demands for care and that other hospitals are diverting their patients directly to UPMC hospitals, we have seen longer delays and we often use all of our space to give care. No one wants care to be delayed, and at UPMC, we monitor patient flows, triage as soon as possible, and prioritize patients in need of emergency care."
"The demand for emergent and other necessary health care services is a nationwide issue that has grown dramatically over [the] last few months for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related care," he added. "In the UPMC system, unvaccinated patients are 7 times more likely to require hospitalization than vaccinated patients presenting to our emergency departments, leading to near-full hospitals."
SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania represents about 630 nurses at UPMC Altoona.