**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 24**: Patient Care Crisis at Maimonides Medical Center: Not Enough RNs to Do The Job
Contact: Carl Ginsburg | carl.ginsburg@nysna.org | 917-405-1060
New York - Nurses at Maimonides Medical Center will hold a Speak Out against staffing shortfalls on units across the hospital today, February 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The RNs are confronted daily by a hospital overflowing with patients as a result of severe understaffing on L&D and Mother-Baby units, the ER and ICUs, as well as on Med-Surgical floors, Psychiatric and Perioperative care, and others.
The RNs, members of the New York State Nurses Association, have battled COVID-19 and its variants for two years, with no relief from the poor work conditions at Maimonides, pushing caseloads over the top. Nurses are continuing to quit, seeing no end to the crisis and no effective retention policies forthcoming.
WHO: Nurses of the New York State Nurses Association
WHAT: Speak Out against severe understaffing and ineffective nurse retention policies at Maimonides Medical Center
WHEN: Thursday, February 24, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
WHERE: Maimonides Medical Center, Corner 48th Street and 10th Avenue (on hospital side)
The nurses support funding for safety net hospitals, but believe those funds should be used to hire more nurses and protect patient care, not for hospital expansion or the hiring of consultants.
“As a safety net hospital, Maimonides plays a central role in the delivery of care to Brooklyn patients. But the hospital is understaffed on virtually every unit, impeding essential care to patients. As nurses, we are entrusted by law as patient advocates. We are duty-bound to call out Maimonides management to address RN staffing by hiring more nurses, to put in place effective retention policies and put the hospital on a path to ensuring quality care for all patients.” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN
“We do not have enough nurses to do the job — a job that has become extremely difficult, even dangerous at times. We work under a threat to patient safety.” Kristen Curley, RN, Stepdown/Telemetry
“With 4 couplets [mother and baby] I am able to provide care to both mother and baby. Unfortunately, on the night shift, I have a caseload of 6 couplets. That’s why I call the RN staffing ‘very poor’ in the unit. To care for all the mothers and babies we sometimes have to split the work. With couplets split up, I have ended up with as many as 15 babies assigned to me. This is wrong, because we run a risk of not getting all necessary care to the babies.” Michelle Williams, RN, Mother-Baby Unit
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The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. For more information, visit nysna.org.