Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter :: April 2005

April 2005 Inside… Single-payer health care: Employer-based insurance..........2 President’s column: You are the expert .......................3 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS NURSES ASSOCIATION www.massnurses.org VOL. 76 NO. 3 Biosafety legislation backed ........3 NARH ordered not to admit more MNA on Beacon Hill: Overtime bill introduced ............4 patients than RNs can safely care for Governor’s budget blasted ........5 In a landmark victory for unionized reg- Labor Education: istered nurses and their patients at North All about the NLRB......................6 Adams Regional Hospital in North Adams, Landmark ruling is first an independent arbitrator has found that the to align staffing decisions Region 5 notes ..........................16 hospital can no longer admit “more patients than nurses can safely care for.” As part of a with RNs’ professional Continuing education.................18 ruling released in early March, the arbitrator issued an order for the hospital to “cease and standards and their ability MNF scholarships .....................19 desist” from these practices. to meet those standards Nurses from the Salem Hospital Com- “The nurses of North Adams Regional mittee. From left: Fran O’Connell, Ann Peer support..............................21 Hospital have made history with this Marshall, Joanne Raley, Mary Wignall. decision and, if the hospital complies with MNA benefits corner .................22 the arbitrator’s order, we believe it will make protects nurses from being forced to care Salem Hospital this hospital one of the safest in the region by for too many patients at once and places guaranteeing every patient first-rate nursing decisions about the safety of patients in the nurses vote for MNA care,” said Robin Simonetti, RN, co-chair of hands of those ultimately accountable for Survey says the nurses’ union at NARH. that care.” union representation A statewide survey has found the The ruling is the first of its kind to deal According to Ruth O’Hearn, RN, a long- Registered nurses of North Shore Medi- with the issue of RN staffing and a hospital’s time nurse at NARH and one of the nurses public would support legislation cal Center/Salem Hospital in Salem and obligation to assign patients based on nurses’ whose grievances over unsafe staffing inci- setting minimum safe RN-to- its North Shore Pediatric Psychiatric Unit ability to meet their professional practice dents in May-June 2002 were the subject of at the Hunt Center in Danvers voted 354-7 patient ratios and prefers MNA’s standards, according to the Massachusetts the decision. “While a long time coming, I see on March 3 in favor of union representation Nurses Association, the union which repre- this decision as a very positive step towards safe staffing bill 3-1 over MHA’s by the MNA. The National Labor Relations sents the nurses at the facility. the improvement in the quality of care at our Board supervised the secret ballot election proposed legislation. In his 30-page decision, arbitrator Michael hospital. While we all want our hospital to with voting conducted at both campuses. The Full details, Page 4 Stutz ruled that the hospital violated the improve and be successful, at the same time, final tabulation came at 6 p.m. that evening. nurses’ rights because “unsafe staffing I want to make sure that it is providing safe �� With the successful vote to join the MNA, was allowed by the hospital to occur with- patient care. Ultimately, this decision says it the 570 NSMC/Salem nurses stand to garner Public Supports out cropping admissions or transferring is up to we nurses on the front lines to deter- greater regional clout as they join other nurses RN-to-Patient Ratio Bill 3-1 patients and without adding another nurse. mine what we can and cannot safely do and on the North Shore who are represented by Individual nurses were injured by having to under what circumstances.” Over Hospital Industry Mea sure the MNA at a number of hospitals, includ- �� work under unsafe conditions.” Mirroring problems faced by nurses across ing Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, �� “The nurses of this hospital are thrilled the state and the nation, the arbitration deci- Lawrence General Hospital and more than with this ruling but the biggest winners of sion in favor of the RNs at NARH grew out 500 nurses working at Northeast Health The plan which would The plan which would all in this decision are all the future patients of a multi-year struggle by the nurses to fight reg u late staffi ng lev els re quire hos pi tals to post a Corporation’s campuses at Beverly Hospital, and set a minimum nurse staffi ng plan, re port of NARH,” said Mary McConnell, RN, chair nurse staffi ng lev el it to the Dept. of Public Health, but would not set of the nurses’ union at NARH. “This ruling See North Adams, Page 20 See Salem, Page 7 minimum staff lev els. 62% Workplace violence: an unacceptable reality for nurses 21% us O “It’s part of the job.” many forms, from bodily assault, to the more oc n Those five simple words, spoken matter- insidious verbal attack. F of-factly by a court magistrate assigned a Within these pages are accounts of nurses WO RKPLACE case involving an act of violence against a who have experienced workplace violence nurse, were the catalyst for several MNA- and the response management has taken to VIO LENCE �� supported legislative bills, organization of protect their safety. Highlights of this issue our Violence and Abuse Prevention Task include an article on the positive actions Force and an ongoing effort to ensure the taken by management at Visiting Nurses of safety of nurses while at work. Boston to assist clinicians who daily enter Throughout is much This issue of Massachusetts Nurse devotes unsafe environments and the reprint of a valuable information on the its focus to “workplace violence,” a term that Nov. 8, 2004 article from The Salem News definitions of and statistics associated with For the latest sadly continues to expand its definition as which chronicles the often unreported dan- workplace violence within the healthcare developments healthcare professionals are exposed to gers inherent in being an emergency room industry. Also included are preventive impacting nurses, physical and psychological traumas. nurse and the absolute deplorable respnse by measures MNA can take on behalf of its Often overlooked, unreported or ignored, management at Northeast Health Systems. members and a comprehensive listing of visit the workplace violence within the healthcare This edition contains brief summations related resources. MNA Web site, industry has in the past been contained to of two recently filed legislative bills deal- And please take the time to read the his- www.massnurses.org emergency services, psychiatric and geri- ing with workplace violence, one calling for tory of the Violence and Abuse Task Force, an atric units. But increasingly, “front line” related educational programs within facili- account which points to the many measures nurses are on the receiving end of this type ties where these acts are rampant, the second taken by this group to facilitate the truism of behavior in reception areas, maternity proposing punishment for those committing “in healthcare or anywhere, violence is not and pediatric wards. And abuse can take such crimes. part of the job.” n Page 2 Massachusetts Nurse April 2005 April 2005 Massachusetts Nurse Page 3 Nurses’ guide to single-payer reform Further evidence that employer-based health insurance has failed On Feb. 1, the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, an agency of the Mas- The top 20 employers with 50 or more employees using public health assistance sachusetts Department of Public Health, issued a report, “Employers Who Have 50 Total or More Employees Using Public Health Public Assistance.” The agency reviewed records Health Employer % of patients receiving health care paid for Employer Name Employer Location Ben. Total Cost Contribution by the state’s Uncompensated Care Pool (UCP) or MassHealth between October Dunkin Donuts Multiple Locations 3454 $3,146,221 75% 2002 and June 2004. The results were staggering. Over $52 Stop & Shop Multiple Locations 2640 $3,074,284 100% million of state money paid for health services to employees of some of the most Wal-Mart Multiple Locations 2914 $2,904,543 52% high-profile and profitable corporations in the state, including a number of large McDonalds Multiple Locations 2124 $2,014,938 70% retailers, food service providers, hospitals and healthcare organizations. Furthermore, Unicco Service Corp Multiple Locations 1356 $1,368,814 78% the vast majority of employers on this list actually offers health insurance to their City of Boston Boston 1110 $1,020,573 90% employees and contributes an average of 70 percent towards the premium. CVS Pharmacy Multiple Locations 1254 $1,403,802 70% Among a list of 140 employers/companies included in the report failing to provide cov- Burger King Multiple Locations 985 $957,805 76% erage to workers are a number of hospitals or healthcare organizations. Most of the Shaws Supermarket Multiple Locations 1099 $1,391,288 63% uncovered workers are low wage workers Boston Medical Center Boston 666 $487,683 81% but others are part time, or not yet eligible for insurance for various reasons. On the Filenes Multiple Locations 924 $973,377 53% list are workers at: • Boston Medical Center

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