Mayo Clinic operates two satellite hospitals in the main campus’s hometown of Rochester, Minn., and around 275 surgery workers from both are petitioning senior leadership over what they’re calling unsafe working conditions.
The grievants, representing Mayo’s St. Mary’s and Methodist hospitals, are nonunionized as well as unionized. Their number comprises former as well as current employees of the surgery department.
In a May 25 press conference at St. Mary’s, the group submitted a petition itemizing grievances and asking for a response by June 1.
They also want an in-person meeting with Gianrico Farrugia, MD, Mayo Clinic’s president and CEO.
Claim: Burnout is putting patients at risk
The 275 signers of the petition represent well more than half of the two hospitals’ 400 or so certified surgical technologists and sterile processing technicians, the Post Bulletin (of Rochester) reports.
Main complaints involve what the petitioners describe as excessive mandatory overtime, expectations of skipped work breaks and unqualified staff working in operating rooms.
“[E]very single time we’ve been meeting with the employer on these, we’ve been hitting a brick wall,” union representative Hallie Wallace of Service Employees International Union Healthcare (SEIU Healthcare), told the press Thursday. “We have been given empty promises that these things will be fixed, and nothing is changing.”
To this a St. Mary’s certified surgical technologist added that the difficult working conditions pose a “significant risk” not only to workers but also, by extension, to patients.
“We are not machines, and our patients are not products on a conveyor belt,” the technologist said and the Post Bulletin reported. “The key to providing patient care is in the employees’ ability to do so. That level of care has continued to be compromised with exhaustion and burnout.”
Leadership pushes back
As for specific actions sought, the petition names reevaluation of surgical caseloads, adjustments to surgery staffing levels, mitigation of overtime demands, updated training processes, increased transparency and communication from supervisors, and strengthened efforts to retain well-performing staff.
As of late Friday afternoon—the long Memorial Day weekend just ahead—the only official response from Mayo Clinic leadership was a statement from Michael Kendrick, MD, the institution’s chief of surgery. He defended the decorated institution as follows:
Mayo Clinic leaders have an unwavering commitment to our staff and to providing high-quality, safe patient care. We encourage our staff to share concerns, especially those related to staff and patient safety. The concerns raised during [Thursday’s] SEIU news conference have been investigated by our internal leadership team as well as by The Joint Commission. These investigations did not substantiate the union’s claim about unsafe practices.”
This is a developing story. It’s being closely followed by the Post Bulletin as well as local TV stations KIMT-3 and KTTC.
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.