{"id":98002,"date":"2020-12-03T08:56:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T16:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=98002"},"modified":"2020-12-03T14:05:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T22:05:26","slug":"op-ed-avh-nurses-protest-staffing-ratios-waiver-demand-hospital-prioritize-patient-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2020\/12\/03\/op-ed-avh-nurses-protest-staffing-ratios-waiver-demand-hospital-prioritize-patient-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: AVH nurses protest staffing ratios waiver, demand hospital prioritize patient safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_98003\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98003\" style=\"width: 639px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-98003\" src=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/AVH-nurse-protect-12.1.2020.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"639\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/AVH-nurse-protect-12.1.2020.jpg 639w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/AVH-nurse-protect-12.1.2020-300x189.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-98003\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Registered nurses held a press conference Dec. 2 outside Antelope Valley Hospital to declare their opposition to the hospital\u2019s application for a waiver of state-mandated nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, which was approved by the California Department of Public Health on Monday, Nov. 30. [Image via Courtney Hayes, CAN]<\/figcaption><\/figure><em><strong>By the California Nurses Association\/NNU<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>On Thanksgiving night, the hospital began applying higher patient ratios for nurses, putting patients at risk and negatively impacting nurses\u2019 ability to deliver safe care. As the sole provider of a variety of specialty services for the region, Antelope Valley Hospital has been stretched thin amidst the Covid-19 pandemic with more patients who are very sick and require more care. State-mandated nurse-to-patient staffing ratios provide assurance for nurses and patients that safe care will be delivered.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, the CDPH announced that hospitals may apply for a waiver of these ratios in cases of short staffing. Nurses say the hospital\u2019s decision is premature, and that Director of Nursing Services Penny Hammer, who applied for the waiver, has not taken sufficient preventive measures to protect patients from short staffing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of us have worked here for years, before we had staffing ratios and after,\u201d says CNA Chief Nurse Representative Maria Altamirano, RN. \u201cWe know what it\u2019s like when we don\u2019t have ratios \u2013 we become overworked and patients suffer. We are already exhausted \u2013 a waiver does not help anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must put patient safety first,\u201d said Ruth Godde, ICU RN and CNA nurse representative. \u201cThe hospital must think outside the box and invest in patient care instead of taking the easy way out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcourtney.hayes.54540218%2Fvideos%2F445708856829363%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267\" width=\"267\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">About the author<\/span>: California Nurses Association represents nearly 1,000 nurses at Antelope Valley Hospital.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By the California Nurses Association\/NNU On Thanksgiving night, the hospital began applying higher patient ratios for nurses, putting patients at risk and negatively impacting nurses\u2019 ability to deliver safe care. As the sole provider of a variety of specialty services for the region, Antelope Valley Hospital has been stretched thin amidst the Covid-19 pandemic with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":98003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1480],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}