Nearly 9,000 nurses from four NYC hospitals could be on the picket line starting early this week if they fail to reach an accord by 6 a.m. Monday. The nurses’ union is fighting for better pay and staffing.
The biggest issue with the looming strike is the adverse nurse to patient ratio, which is critical not only to the nurses’ working condition, but for the safety of the patients.
If a new contract is not reached by the deadline, the hospitals that could be affected by a strike include Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, and Montefiore.
The union points to a busy emergency department at Montefiore, saying there are simply too few nurses. Emergency room nurses have complained of having to care for patients in the hallways, while an area with more than 30 beds remains empty, due in part to staff levels.
Part of te problem is that when people, “don’t have access to primary care, they come into our emergency rooms which causes the overcrowding,” Montefiore Nurse Practitioner Johnira Delone-Florian said. “And that space can be used for those patients to be taken out of the hallways and put into a bed, like everyone else.”
The New York State Nursing Association is expected to give an update at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
The association’s president, Nancy Hagans, said the remaining hospitals are negotiating, except the main campus of Mount Sinai.
Mount Sinai began moving some vulnerable patients, including fragile newborns under intensive care, in the midst of this looming strike. Other strike contingency plans include canceling non-emergency procedures.
In an internal memo, Mount Sinai informed staff of “aggressive planning in response” to the strike threat, which will include “diverting a majority of ambulances,” beginning “to cancel some elective surgeries … will perform emergency surgery only,” “starting to transfer patients” to other hospitals and “working to safely discharge as many patients as appropriate.”
Dr. Frances Cartwright is Mount Sinai’s chief nursing officer. “Talk about vulnerable patients, defenseless little babies,” Cartwright said. “We can’t wait until Monday, we have to plan. I sure am hoping for the best, but you have to plan for the worst.”
