Overview and announcement of WSNA meetings to be held next week 

Hello, I’m Hannah Collins-Lewis and I am your WSNA local unit Chair and a member of the staffing committee. Tuesday afternoon, the Hospital Staffing Committee met with Virginia Mason’s President Monica Hilt, as well as CNO Mila Sprouse, to hear whether the organization would be accepting or rejecting the staffing plans submitted for 2025. After months of hard work, your fellow nurses, together in conjunction with management, developed sound, reasonable staffing plans. The plan was based on recommendations from staff feedback, 100s of ADOs, national nursing organizations and other factors identified in the law as important to utilize in developing the plan. The goal of these staffing plans was to prioritize patient and nurse safety by proposing appropriate patients to nurse/PCT assignments. Both management and staff nurses, who are at the bedside or on the units every day, supported this plan.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, President Monica Hilt and the organization rejected our staffing plan, as has been done for at least the last 3 years. Unexpectedly, the staffing committee was immediately presented with another proposal developed solely by VM/CommonSpirit management and leadership teams. The presented plan would result in significant FTE cuts targeting inpatient/ non-procedural units and included cuts to RNs, PCTs, PFCs and more. Per CNO Mila Sprouse, these reductions in staffing support the organizational goal of ensuring that financial sustainability is the priority and focus.

Overview of management’s proposed staffing plan

A significant reduction in PFC FTEs was one of the primary tactics in management’s attempt to find “creative solutions” to support their goal of “financial sustainability” in 2025. In their proposed plan, many units will only have PFCs present during business hours meaning no PFCs on weekends, evenings or nights, to align with the majority of patient flow. This would result in every Charge RN assuming more responsibility and requiring them to be trained in GE. Further justification of PFC FTE reduction was presented as trying to minimize the impact of reduction needs on direct patient care roles.

Another component of the proposed plan was the “repurposing” of unit specific resource roles, such as on Jones 11, CP 12, CP 17 and both CCU Resource and CSRN roles into a new role, STAT Nurses. Responsibilities include responding to all emergency situations throughout the hospital, providing support in cath lab & IR during after hours, supporting the ED with monitoring and transporting critically ill patients, rounding on watch list patients throughout the hospital, assisting with ECMO cannulation, bedside monitoring, central line placement, sheath/TR band management, and supporting bedside RNs with peripheral IV placement, episodic care and other clinical needs. Simply put, the organization’s restructuring of all resource RNs into STAT nurses would be taking multiple positions of varied skills and experiences into 2 STAT nurses per day/ night shift, totaling just 8.4 FTE.

The organization proposed significant reductions in staffing in the Emergency Department. Their proposed plan would eliminate 16.4 FTE by removing several RN shift lines totaling a 6.3 FTE loss. Furthermore, eliminating 1 clinical supervisor and reducing techs/PFCs by 9.1 FTE resulting in just one PCT from 11a – 9p only. It’s reported these proposed changes are a result of a decrease in desired daily visits. Currently. the ED has been experiencing significant issues with staffing as noted in the many ADO’s we have received so a proposal to significantly reduce staffing is very concerning.

Several other units would see a reduction in bedside staff: limiting Progressive Care Unit to 1 PCT per shift (max census 18); providing the Telemetry Unit with only 1 PCT at night, and 2 during the day at staggered start times (max. census 20); decreasing PCTs on Jones 18 and Jones 11; and completely eliminating all PCTs in the Critical Care Unit (max. census 28). Management’s primary strategy is to have a fixed number of PCTs in units regardless of census or acuity.

Additionally, the hospital proposed significant cuts in IV therapy including no support on nights. This will result in the need to shift many of those responsibilities to unit nurses on all shifts.

This proposed plan left your nursing colleagues in shock. As we have experienced short staffing for many months, resulting in burnout, department transfers, and resignations, I felt insulted that such a plan would be not only considered, but proposed as an actual plan. Other members of the staffing committee felt similarly upset. Staffing Co-Chair Nicole Vernon (Jones 18) stated to leadership, “This meeting just turned out completely different than what has been discussed. How is this following the law with what we have been tasked with as a committee?” To which, we were unsatisfactorily given an answer by Monica Hilt and Mila Sprouse, reinforcing “sustainability” for the future rather than recognizing the work of the committee in producing a staffing plan as required by law and the staffing needs of the nurses and other staff. WSNA Co-Chair and Staffing Committee member Michael Salters (ICU) stated, “I don’t know how this ICU will function with these reductions - Perhaps it is sustainable to the mission but not to the workplace and is a great detriment to our patients”.

Like my colleagues, I felt compelled to share my concerns. As a regular preceptor on Progressive Care, I worry about how these working conditions will impact our newest nurses and those loyal nurses who knew Virginia Mason when it was our community hospital, not a corporate entity, malleable in the hands of those who may have never taken care of a patient or who are not currently at the bedside. I fear it will lead to increased burnout, decreased retention, and of course, substandard conditions for the patients we care for. CommonSpirit continues to ask us to do more and more and now, with severe cuts at a time the Committee identified a need for MORE staff. If delivering safe, quality care was the true mission of CommonSpirit’s Virginia Mason, their proposed staffing plan would reflect that. We would see increases in FTEs and more resources. A reasonable plan was presented and what was received was incredibly disappointing and concerning.

Your staffing committee and WSNA Officers wanted to share this information we learned and thank those 40+ observers who came to the virtual meeting on Tuesday. We want to reassure you that we are listening to you, we are reading your MANY ADOs, and we are trying to find solutions to the problems within our organization. What we need from our nurses and our friends with SEIU is solidarity. We are always stronger together, as a bargaining unit and as caregivers of the community. We want safe working conditions and adequate staffing so we can continue providing the standard of care Virginia Mason was known for. We will continue to work tirelessly until we can provide our nurses and peers with what they need to do their jobs safely. This is not a done deal. The committee must go back to the table to try to reach an agreement on a staffing plan that addresses the needs of our staff and the patients we care for.

Next week, we will be hosting virtual Sip & Chats on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to discuss these proposed changes and answer any questions.  PLEASE ATTEND to hear next steps and additional information.

Join Us for a Virtual Sip N Chat

July 30 – 6 – 7 pm

July 31 – 8:30 – 9:30 am

August 1 – 6 – 7 pm

 Meeting Information (Same link for all three time/day options)

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 220 703 918 861

Passcode: y8CFsG

Dial in by phone

+1 206-485-2614,,747684307# United States, Seattle

(888) 313-0615,,747684307# United States (Toll-free)

Questions? Please contact one of your local unit officer, nurse representative Sara Frey sfrey@wsna.org or organizer Grace LeMonte GLaMonte@wsna.org

In solidarity,

Chair - Hannah Collins-Lewis
Vice Chair - Michael Salters
Secretary - Kimberly Travis-Carter
Treasurer - Samuel Asencio
Grievance Officer - Donna Watts
Grievance Officer - Aaron Persinger
Grievance Officer - Kim Adekoya
Staffing Co-Chair – Nicole Vernon

WSNA Organizer Grace LaMonte, glamonte@wsna.org
WSNA Nurse Rep Sara Frey, sfrey@wsna.org.