On July 16, nurses and healthcare workers represented by the California Nurses Association (CNA) protested outside Mercy Hospital. They voiced concerns about staff cuts, unsafe working conditions, and management decisions that will affect patient care and nurses.
Several healthcare workers said they would shut down the department if they were not heard.
The community emphasized that health care workers are an important, vital component of patients’ lives, and without them, there would be impacts on many.
The layoffs happened after Common Spirit closed the Grossman Burn Unit at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and impacted employees.
According to Becker’s Hospital Review, San Francisco-based Dignity Health is laying off 139 employees at two Southern California hospitals. One is Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, with 57 employees to be laid off on August 3.
Jennifer Mueller, a registered nurse in the emergency department at Memorial Hospital, highlighted the immediate workflow impacts. Mueller addressed that the emergency department is usually the first point of contact when a patient comes into the hospital.
She expressed that, now, with the Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN) positions removed, nurses will have a wider workload.
“These layoffs are affecting workflow for us. LVNs that have all been laid off; that job is now being put onto nurses, the RNs. So normally we can delegate tasks to them; they’ve eliminated that position, so it’s essentially more work for us,” said Mueller.
Mueller mentioned that with the layoffs in place, there will be a longer wait time for patient care.
“It is definitely going to slow down patient care, and that might look something like increasing wait times in the ER specifically,” said Mueller
Jess Guthrie Montes, a 12-year registered nurse in the emergency department at Memorial, explained her role.
“My role there is to support people on their worst days and find the appropriate level of healthcare that they need, and even life-saving events,” said Montes.
Montes explained that the picket is about supporting the community and understanding what impact these cutbacks by CommonSpirit will have on the community.
She commented on how life is as a nurse with the current changes being implemented.
“We are all feeling the pressure right now. Nurses are expected to pick up extra workloads; the company is asking nurses to do more and more work with less and less staff. Even sometimes supplies, and the care for more patients, and patient care, we’re noticing is suffering, but I think also nurses are suffering under these conditions,” said Montes.
She addressed the importance of keeping healthcare workers and not laying them off.
Montes said laying off supportive staff means fewer eyes on the patients and less support for the patient.
She explained the techs that are being laid off are the first ones to see the patients’ changes in their monitors, as they are trained to do so, and the role of nurses has specific task loads while on duty every day. Since nurses handle many patients unless in the ICU, they still depend on staff to help identify changes in patient condition before any negative outcome.
She continues to explain that LVN staff also face additional patient loads, and nursing ratios are not being supported.
“The patient load that we have to address in the lobby is usually at our peak times: 30 to 40 patients in the lobby. In California, we have nursing ratios. It’s one to four, and I’m not seeing common spirit actually support those ratios in the lobby currently. What we used to do is buffer that with supportive healthcare,” said Montes. “Our LVNs and our techs that work in the ERs and the front line are helping us treat patients, educate patients, report back changes in patient conditions. Discharge patients, and now there’s a bottleneck. We’re not able to address every single patient promptly because there’s not enough staff in the front since these layoffs have been occurring.”
Montes said it has impacted her department and that she works in the front line and has been training a new nurse, and people don’t realize it takes months to train an acute care nurse on the floor. She explained that there is a residency program that takes a year before they can work with patients, as they have multiple changing conditions.
Montes emphasized the department is short-staffed, and it is impacting their patient care.
“Currently, we’re running short-staffed every day, and when we’re that short-staffed, we’re unable to spend the appropriate time with our patients. It can signal big, big changes in the patient’s illness,” said Montes.
She expressed her concern that this will impact patient lives even more than regularly.
“This will definitely impact their lives, though. If you ever walk into an ER just to observe. I mean, you’ll see the patients do have a hard time waiting that long to get the treatment that they need. They become very frustrated, their families do too, and I don’t blame them. It’s a real challenge,” said Montes
Montes argued that they have been looking for solutions to keep all hired healthcare workers on board.
“We’ve been trying to find solutions, but the solution needs to come from the top.
CommonSpirit really needs to rescind. We’re hoping that they’ll rescind the laying off of our supportive staff. And then also adhere to the staffing ratios that the state has,” said Montes.
According to the Dignity Hospital Spokesperson, they addressed that they are facing new financial strains and have to reduce costs to maintain their role in their commitment to serving the community.
“Bakersfield Memorial Hospital is facing unprecedented economic pressures, soaring costs, and complex government and payer dynamics. To support long-term sustainability and uphold our commitment to serving our communities, we are taking a number of steps to improve efficiency and reduce costs. This includes making the difficult decision to reduce some roles in our organization. We are committed to approaching this process with compassion and respect,”said the Dignity Hospital Spokesperson. “By strengthening our operational foundation, we are strategically positioning ourselves to adeptly navigate today’s healthcare landscape. This proactive approach not only enhances our immediate resilience in addressing current challenges but also lays the groundwork for sustained growth and innovation for improved health outcomes long-term”
