Below is an article in the Sunday Worcester Telegram detailing devastating cuts to direct care staff at UMass Memorial Medical Center that, as MNA members state in the article, are jeopardizing the safety of patients at all UMass affiliated hospitals. If you want the definition of absurd,, check out this Orwellian quote by the so called “brain trust” behind the decisions to make significant cuts to those who support nurses in direct patient care. Dr. Dickson and Patrick L. Muldoon, president of UMass Memorial Medical Center, characterized these moves as bringing care directly to the bedside. Huh? This is akin to the Pentagon calling nuclear warhead-loaded ballistic missiles “peace keepers.” Prior to these cuts, UMass affiliated hospitals had among the worst ranking in Massachusetts for preventable readmissions, which caused the nurses to threaten a strike over these dangerous conditions. The hospital finally relented by agreeing to safer patient limits for nurses. Now they are undermining those changes by embracing “lean” manufacturing standards and applying them to their own version of the Brave New World of hospital care. This is another example of why we need the Patient Safety Act, our ballot initiative to set safe patient limits for nurses in all hospitals, and which also prevents the reduction in support staff involved in direct patient care. You can help this cause by attending a rally on May 21 at 11 a.m. at the State House in Boston, as we launch the final signature drive to put this public safety measure on the ballot in 2014. For more information, visit PatientSafetyAct.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 14:23:17 +0000
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