Judy Danella, the President of the United Steelworkers Local 4-200 joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the ongoing nursing staff shortage in New Jersey.
USW Local 4-200 has 1,700 active members, all registered nurses, at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. Despite 1,700 active workers, the hospital is facing a staff shortage. Nurses currently have to double the safe staffing recommended nurse-to-patient ratio, and safety is taking a backseat to productivity.
Danella discussed more about the staffing issues the hospital is facing.On May 11, thousands of nurses from across New Jersey, joined together to demonstrate in front of the State Capitol Building in Trenton to show their support for safe staffing practices. Safe staffing practices are used to lower the number of patients that are assigned to each nurse, ideally 4 patients per nurse, and in turn these practices improve patient care and workplace safety. The hope is to bring attention to the staffing shortage so that the state government can work to implement safe staffing as a mandatory practice, and hospitals like Robert Wood Johnson can retain nurses easier.
In an effort to help with the staffing issues, management at Robert Wood Johnson has brought in travel nurses. Travel nurses are RNs who work in different locations for a predetermined time before moving to another contracted location. Compared to homegrown nurses, travel nurses don’t have the same desire to improve workplace issues, Danella said. This causes a disconnect when most nurses fight for safe staffing implementations but the travel nurses don’t share the same concerns as they won’t be in that location for long.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more.