Albany Medical Center Nurses Speak Out about Unsafe Staffing after Department of Health Launches Investigation

Albany, N.Y.– Today, June 11 at noon, NYSNA nurses at Albany Medical Center will hold a speak-out in front of the hospital to sound the alarm on unsafe staffing levels that put patient care at risk. The speak-out comes on the heels of the New York State Department of Health launching an investigation into nurse staffing levels at Albany Medical Center after receiving dozens of complaints from nurses tasked with more patients than they could safely care for. Nursessay management at Albany Medical Center has failed to follow the state’s staffing laws and failed to listen to frontline caregivers who have been telling them that staffing levels at the hospital are unsafe and lead to nurse burnout and high turnover. The Department of Health is finally starting to listen to nurses; nurses are demanding that Albany Medical Center administrators listen, too.  

WHO: NYSNA nurses at Albany Medical Center, elected leaders, and allies including Assembly Member Phil Steck, Assembly Member Pat Fahy, Albany County Legislator Dustin Reidy, Albany City Council Member Gabriel Romero, Albany City Council Member Council Member Owusu Amani, the Capital District Area Labor Federation, Albany County Central Federation of Labor, the NYS Labor-Religion Coalition, Citizen Action, and New York State Council of Churches.

WHAT: Frontline nurses speak out about unsafe staffing 

WHEN: Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at 12 PM 

WHERE: Across the street from Albany Medical Center (43 New Scotland Ave) - On the Hilton Garden Inn side of New Scotland Ave, between Holland Ave and Veterans Way

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) recently opened an investigation into staffing levels at Albany Medical Center after nurses raised concerns about quality care. Nurses filed numerous complaints that hospital administrators have failed to set safe staffing standards in all patient care units, failed to publicly post staffing standards and daily staffing data, failed to discuss staffing levels in staffing committee meetings, and failed to uphold their own safety standards. Conditions in critical care units are particularly concerning, where New York state law dictates that nurses should care for a maximum of two patients. 

In two complaints about critical care units filed in December 2023, nurses detailed how "Albany Med has refused to provide break coverage which has put every ICU over the 2 patients to 1 nurse ratio every day on every shift." A complaint about unsafe staffing in the NICU, where nurses care for the most vulnerable, critically ill babies, said: "The ratio should be 2 patients to 1 nurse. They have consistently been running at 3 or 4 patients to 1 nurse."

Albany Medical Center nurses sounded the alarm about the hospital failing to meet safe staffing standards at a town hall in February and at the state capitol in May. They continued filing complaints about ICU understaffing directly with the DOH. Last week, the DOH finally sent investigators to the hospital to interview nurses and see conditions first-hand. 

The Albany Med Health System is the largest private employer in the capital region and has consolidated significantly in the last 20 years. Its flagship hospital, Albany Medical Center, now serves approximately one-third of Capital Region patients. While expanding its market share in the region, Albany Med has not invested in hiring and retaining enough nurses to improve quality care. The hospital has had some of the longest Emergency Department wait times in the state, frequently understaffs patient care units despite state-mandated guidelines and had low hospital safety scores in 2023.

NYSNA nurses are bargaining for a fair contract before their current contract expires on July 31 and have made safe staffing a top priority. They are asking hospital administrators to follow the staffing law and invest in improving care by recruiting and retaining more nurses for safe, quality care.
 

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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.