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UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER SERVICES RESTORED
FOLLOWING COURT ORDER AVERTING PLANNED STRIKE
July 21, 2005
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.)
— UC
Davis Medical Center is fully staffed with nurses today and
is reopening all of its nursing units. The emergency department
was restored to normal operations at 7:45 p.m. last night.
A planned one-day strike by the California Nurses Association
of all five University of California teaching hospitals was averted
yesterday when a Sacramento Superior Court judge issued a temporary
restraining order halting the strike.
“Our nurses are professionals who care about patients,”
said Sharon Melberg, assistant director for patient care services
at UC Davis Health System. “We are glad to have our operations
fully restored and look forward to working with the UC Office
of the President to permanently resolve the labor dispute.”
Immediately after medical center leadership received word of the
judge’s order, nursing leaders began contacting nursing
staff to confirm staffing levels. UC Davis is moving quickly to
get critical services back up and running because medical resources
in the community had been stretched to the limit.
In anticipation of the strike, the medical center had taken a
series of steps to safely care for hospitalized patients without
resorting to the use of replacement nurses.
These included treating only critical trauma and burn patients
in the emergency department, refusing transfers from other hospitals
in the region and postponing some elective and complex surgeries.
These measures allowed the medical center to lower its patient
census to a level that could be safely staffed during a strike.
UC Davis operates the only regional burn unit and the only level
1 adult and pediatric trauma center in the Northern California
region. It also has nine intensive care units that provide a high
level of care to critically ill and injured patients.
UC Davis Medical Center is designated as a Magnet
Center of Nursing Excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing
Center. Only three health-care facilities in California and 102
nationwide have received this four-year award. The designation
recognizes UC Davis for creating an outstanding work environment
for nurses.
The UC Davis Medical Center's nursing staff is composed of all
registered nurses, the most highly trained category of licensed
nurses. And the medical center's nurse-patient ratio has long
met or exceeded state-mandated nurse staffing ratios. The medical
center's nurse-patient ratio tops U.S.
News & World Report's
latest ranking of America's 50 best hospitals. Vacancy and
turnover rates among the nursing staff at UC Davis Medical Center
are among the lowest in the nation. As UC employees, UC Davis
Medical Center nurses also participate in one of the best-funded
public pension plans in the country, and have not had to contribute
to their pensions for nearly 15 years.
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