UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER BEGINS RESTORING SERVICES FOLLOWING COURT ORDER AVERTING STRIKE
July 20, 2005
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.)
— UC Davis Medical Center
has begun notifying its nurses that the California Nurses Association's
planned one-day strike tomorrow has been halted. A Sacramento
Superior Court judge issued a temporary
restraining order this morning averting the strike, planned
tomorrow at the five University of California teaching hospitals
statewide, including UC Davis Medical Center.
"We are mobilizing all our resources to get
the word out to our nurses," said Carol Robinson, senior
associate director for UC Davis Health System. "We expect
we'll have a full staff of nurses in the morning, and are now
working to restore services that were curtailed in anticipation
of the strike."
To safely care for currently hospitalized patients without resorting to the use of replacement nurses during a strike, the medical center had taken a series of steps over the past week to reduce patient volume. Steps 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 empty two of its nine intensive care units: the eight-bed cardiac ICU and 10-bed neurosurgery ICU. The medical center had also hoped to empty a third ICU, the 12-bed medical ICU. Intensive care unit patients require much more nursing care than other hospitalized patients.
"As of this morning, we still hadn't been able
to close the medical ICU; we just had too many critically ill
patients," Robinson said. "It's a tremendous relief
that the strike has been averted."
UC Davis Medical Center is rescheduling surgeries and procedures that had been postponed in anticipation of a strike.
Getting through the anticipated one-day strike without
resorting to the use of outside nurses has been a priority for
UC Davis Medical Center, which has never had a nurses' strike.
"We believe avoiding that recourse is best
for our patients, our community and our long-term relationships
with our staff," Robinson said.
In the midst of a severe shortage of nurses, UC
Davis Medical Center has distinguished itself as one of the best
work environments for nurses in the United States. Unlike many
hospitals, the 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 nation's lowest. The
vacancy rate at the medical center is 3.4 percent, compared to
the national average of 16.2 percent. The turnover rate at the
medical center is 8.9 percent, compared to the national average
of 16.8 percent.
UC employees, including nurses, enjoy one of the best-funded public pension plans in the country, and have not had to contribute to their pensions for nearly 15 years.
Nurse safety has always been a top priority. In
December, UC Davis Medical Center began deploying a "lift
team" to protect nurses and other staff from pain and
injuries incurred from lifting patients. A team is available 24
hours per day, seven days a week. Use of the team has dramatically
reduced Worker's Compensation claims stemming from lift injuries.
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