Upper Peninsula Health System-Marquette (Mich.) nurses are taking their issues with the hospital public via an ad aimed at Duke University officials.
The nurses, who are represented by the Michigan Nurses Association, took out a full-page color ad in the Durham, N.C.-based university's independent student newspaper, Duke Chronicle, highlighting what they deem as understaffing, forced nurse overtime, and unsafe patient care conditions at UPHS-Marquette, the union said in a news release.
The ad states, "Unfortunately for Duke, it seems that the short-sighted, profit-driven approach of Marquette's hospital management threatens to harm the stellar reputation Duke University Health System has worked so hard to earn."
It goes on to call on newspaper readers to "take action in support of Duke's commitment to quality care" by signing a community petition.
The nurses' ad comes amid contract negotiations between the union and hospital, which is owned by Brentwood, Tenn.-based Duke LifePoint Healthcare. In October, about 400 hospital nurses went on strike.
In response to the newspaper ad, UPHS-Marquette told Becker's it "will continue to bargain in good faith and strive to find the common ground necessary to negotiate a labor agreement that meets the needs of all parties and constituents. We have no comment on this tactic employed by the union."