An open brawl broke out late last week after the nation’s largest nurses’ union accused hospitals of “deliberately refusing” to pony up for optimal RN-to-patient staffing ratios—and a hospital industry spokesperson hit back.
“Hospitals intentionally understaff every unit, every shift with fewer numbers of nurses than [are] actually required to safely and optimally care for the numbers of admitted patients and their severity of illness,” wrote 175,000-member National Nurses United Aug. 26. “Hospitals do this to maximize profits and excess revenue.”
The next day, Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the Federation of American [community] Hospitals, issued a terse response.
“National Nurses United must be experiencing a different reality than the rest of us,” Kahn wrote. “All over the country stressed frontline caregivers, including nurses, are performing valiantly in the face of an ongoing tragedy. But the truth is these heroes are in short supply.”
Kahn:
[T]o deny the headwinds we are facing with staffing reflects a regrettable lack of understanding of the unimaginable stresses the COVID-19 pandemic continues to place on caregivers, hospitals and the patients [who] depend on us.”
National Nurses Union:
The hospital industry is crying false tears over the lack of nurses willing to stay in direct care when these untenable working conditions are entirely of their own making. For decades and even before Covid, the hospital industry has driven nurses away from direct nursing care in multiple ways.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.