Ninety-eight % of nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Heart Austin voted on Could 31 and June 1 to go on strike.
The 900 registered nurses at Ascension Seton are represented by the union, The Nationwide Nurse Organizing Committee/Nationwide Nurses United. The union introduced the authorization of a one-day strike in a press launch on June 1. A date for the potential strike has not been set, however the union will present a discover no less than 10 days earlier than the date. The strike could be the biggest nurses’ strike in Texas historical past, in accordance with the press launch.
In line with the press launch, “ASMCA administration’s unacceptable and delayed responses to nurses’ contract proposals” to enhance nurse recruitment, retention and staffing ranges fueled the potential strike. Nationwide Nurses United additionally claimed ASMCA’s possession by Ascension — which is likely one of the largest nonprofit well being methods within the nation — means they’ve the monetary assets to handle the short-staffing challenge.
“We simply want extra well being care staff, particularly nurses, however we’re not getting paid sufficient,” nursing junior Kate Crawford mentioned. “We’re not being incentivized sufficient and we’re really having nurses give up their careers and go do different issues.”
Crawford mentioned she was not shocked by the announcement of a potential strike, as she feels there has all the time been a scarcity of medical staff, particularly in massive cities. She mentioned she wished extra folks would take into account going into nursing to fight this development. Whereas Crawford mentioned she hopes to see extra folks changing into nurses, she mentioned she additionally understands not everybody can or must be a nurse.
“You want someone who’s positively prepared to tackle the workload,” Crawford mentioned. “You’re not simply giving folks medicines on a regular basis. You’re going to be bathing them or strolling them. It may be very mundane typically, however it takes someone with a giant coronary heart who’s compassionate, educated and simply enthusiastic about nursing general.”
Extra universities, together with Baylor, have began providing accelerated nursing packages. The accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Baylor states they put together folks for a nursing profession in a single 12 months with no prior nursing training or expertise required. Given the shorter coaching time, nursing sophomore Barabara Cardoza mentioned this isn’t the proper strategy to deal with the scarcity.
“There are such a lot of tremendous accelerated nurse packages, I really feel like (it’s) unsafe that it’s an accelerated program,” Cardoza mentioned. “It simply throws you out within the wind. I feel that’s harmful, and I don’t actually agree with that, however that’s how unhealthy the difficulty is.”
As for affected person care persevering with throughout the potential in the future strike, nurses from the union defined that the strike is to enhance affected person care in the long term and isn’t an act of negligence.
“I do know that there’s a concern of ‘Will sufferers nonetheless be supplied with care?’” nursing sophomore Trinity Schroeder mentioned. “However I feel long run the purpose is to lift consciousness that nurses must be handled higher and if they’re then long run affected person care will enhance from the strike.”