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| Nurses' 'vital signs' stress patient safety Union rally draws hundreds of nurses who want action on staffing, mandatory OT 
May 19, 2004 Anne Goldman, chairwoman of NYSUT's Health Care Professionals Council and nursing representative for the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, urges legislators to provide relief: 'When we exceed ratios, people die. Mandatory overtime is institutional abuse.' Nurses introduced a new kind of white uniform to the public earlier this month: long, white T-shirts. Hundreds of nurses wore them in solidarity at a Capitol rally, where they hoisted "vital signs" of their own, demanding action on patient safety. Used to being on their feet, the nurses walked for legislation requiring safe nurse-to-patient staff ratios and for a ban on mandatory overtime. Hospital nurses, school nurses and visiting nurses from New York State United Teachers, the Public Employees Federation and Service Employees International Union pumped up their "vital signs" as a message to lawmakers:
"What's this about?" "SAFE STAFFING!" "What's this about?" "PATIENT CARE!" Nurses from all over the state shouted chants into the spring air and hoisted signs high as they circled in front of the Capitol in Albany, then filled the steps to hear lawmakers and union leaders pledge to help with their plight. "Nurse-to-patient ratios determine life," shouted Anne Goldman, chairwoman of NYSUT's Health Care Professionals Council and nursing representative for the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. "When we exceed ratios, people die. Mandatory overtime is institutional abuse." Union leaders vowed to be the change agents for reform. "The union gives you a voice in the workplace for collective bargaining rather than collective begging," NYSUT President Tom Hobart told members at a pre-rally pep talk, where he welcomed a dozen newcomers to Albany activism. Seventeen states have bills pending that would ban mandatory overtime and seven other states have already passed such bills, said psychiatric nurse Debbie Egel, a member of PEF's executive board. "Where's New York ?" she hollered as the crowd erupted in shouts. "Mandatory overtime leads to medication errors ... Even truck drivers have limits as to the time they spend on the road!" Egel told lawmakers to remember "the life they save may be their own." Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Rensselaer, knows of what they speak: He has been in treatment for prostate cancer. "We're going to partner with you," Bruno promised. "You have a right to a quality of life." Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, thanked the nurses for "caring and comforting the frail and infirm," adding: "Now it's up to this state to get its act together and lift some weight off your back." "Let's get those bills moving," urged NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. "I don't want to be taken care of by a nurse on her third shift." The crowd, relating to his fears, groaned. Lubin, who heads NYSUT's legislative operation, knows about partnering: the last two coperative union efforts to improve health care resulted in passage of laws requiring safe hypodermic needles and protecting "whistleblowers" who report unsafe work conditions. But much more remains to be done. In a profession shadowed by nursing shortages and overwork, two bills that could help now lie in wait — like patients — while activists press the call buttons over and over. The bills banning mandatory overtime and establishing safe nurse-to-patient ratios are written and in committee. Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, D-Queens, the lead sponsor of the bill to end mandatory overtime, said nurses are taken advantage of because "there's an assumption you will not leave your patients." She urged nurses fanned out on the steps below her to stay active as the voice of all those back on duty at the hospitals. If a mistake is made due to working too many hours without relief, or caring for too many patients, it is nurses who are in jeopardy of losing their licenses and livelihood. "It's a very unfair setup," she said. Roger Benson, president of the 54,000-member PEF, said nurses are relegated to second place behind the profits of hospital managers. He promised that nurses will keep coming back to the Capitol in ever-greater numbers until laws providing relief are passed. — Liza Frenette |
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