Registered nurses hold informational pickets in response to staffing shortages

Registered nurses (RNs) picketed outside of Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs Wednesday, to raise awareness of what they claim to be chronic under-staffing and high turnover rates at the hospital.

The picket happened at different times across eight other Tenet hospitals in California also. One of them includes Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree.

RNs who participated are part of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United.

In a statement released by the unions, a Desert Regional Medical Center RN said it's been two years that they have faced the issues they're trying to bring awareness to.

"For the past two years, Tenet Healthcare has failed to prepare for the pandemic, prioritizing its profits over its responsibility to provide safe patient care,'' said Laura Bruce, Desert Regional Medical Center RN. "As nurses, we're being pressured to care for too many patients and it's putting patients' safety at risk."

According to the statement, Desert Regional Medical Center lost 137 nurses since the pandemic started.

The unions also accuse Tenet hospitals of mishandling rest and meal breaks and choosing to pay nurses penalty pay to sacrifice their breaks instead of hiring more nurses.

Among other issues, the union claims are the hospital does not follow state safe staffing ratio laws in the intensive care unit and other units in the hospital.

Desert Regional Medical Center responded to this claim and said that it's an unusual occurrence for the hospital to go out of ration in the ICU, and happens during uncontrollable and unpredictable circumstances. The hospital references the COVID-19 surge in January as the most recent occurrence.

"To suggest that our hospital is not willing to invest in nursing care for our patients is just not correct," read the hospital's statement.

"We're having major safety concerns inside due to low staffing. We see that our hospital that is funded by Tenet is relying much on budget cuts to meet big profit margins," said Desert Regional RN, Linda Serrano.

According to earnings reports we found from Tenet, the company reported "Strong cash flow generation in FY 2021" and looking ahead to 2022, anticipates "Continuing recovery …And growth"

RNs picketing is demanding that Tenet hospital hire more nurses and comply with state hospital staffing laws immediately by recruiting more staff to provide quality care.

Desert Regional Medical Center said it is well known that hospitals are experiencing a shortage of nurses nationwide, and are actively hiring traveling nurses and recruiting full-time nurses while offering incentives for critical positions.

In response to the picket, Desert Care Network ensured the hospitals will remain fully operational, and its staff's focus will be to provide exceptional quality patient care.

Desert Care Network also said that while it values all of the nurses represented by the CNA, it is disappointing that the union is taking this action are working to negotiate and bargain in good faith to reach an agreement.

"Like many hospitals across the country, we have been facing staffing challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, and we remain committed to doing everything possible to stay well-staffed. To support our care teams, we have been exercising all options available to us. We are working with our staffing agency to bring traveler nurses on board and we are continuously working to recruit additional nurses," read a statement released Tuesday by Desert Care Network.

A 2018 study in the American Journal of Medical Quality says a shortage of RNs is expected to spread across the country until 2030.