WSNA is aware that management, in at least some departments, is asking nurses to meet and come up with a staffing plan within the confines of the hospitals reduced budget where the primary goal is “sustainability,” not Safe Staffing. THIS IS VOLUNTARY AND YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO DO THIS. As you are aware, management recently REJECTED the staffing plan that your staffing committee produced after considerable work including review of nursing standards, ADOs, and other information the law calls out as important factors in developing a staffing plan. The hospital instead, proposed its own plan with radical cuts to staffing that would leave departments with what nurses believe are dangerously unsafe levels of staffing.

It appears that management’s plan is to now engage nurses in individual departments and put the onus on staff nurses to come up with a staffing plan without an adequate budget that supports safe staffing. DON’T fall for this ploy!! If you choose to participate in these meetings, you can reject management’s budget and urging to come up with a plan that doesn’t meet staffing needs.  Any plan that departments come up with, are not binding on the staffing committee. Nursing staff in the staffing committee have already strongly rejected management’s plan to cut staffing.

The staffing law requires that the Staffing Committee work together with management in a JOINT PROCESS to develop staffing plans. The hospital has not done this. They came to the staffing committee in late July, rejecting the staffing committee’s work. Since at least 2021, management has rejected the committee’s work and developed their own plans, disregarding the committee’s work and needs of the nurses and most importantly, of our patients. Management appears to be attempting to engage nurses to develop plans to support their inadequate budget or, to prioritize the bottom line over patient care so they can report to the staffing committee that it was nurses who came up with new plans. We understand that management endeavors to be good stewards of the budget, but they also have an obligation to provide nurses with the tools we need to safely care for patients. Over the past year, VM nurses have filed almost 1,300 ADOs detailing dire staffing conditions.  Almost 500 have been filed since June 1, 2024.

Under the WSNA contract, management agrees that it “recognizes the responsibility of nurses under the Nurse Practice Act and will promote working conditions that enable nurses to meet their responsibilities under the Act’ and to maintain “staffing consistent with quality patient care.” Additionally, the hospital agrees that even in exigent circumstances, it would “maintain staffing levels that provide for patient and staff safety, and strive to maintain staffing levels to enable staff to take meal and rest breaks and their accrued paid time off.” ADOs demonstrate the hospital is not meeting this obligation.

If your manager has asked nurses in your department to meet, please contact your nurse representative, Sara Frey sfrey@wsna.org.

REMEMBER – YOU CAN DECLINE

NEW GRADS

When Mila Sprouse CNO met with WSNA and the staffing committee after she started working for VM, part of her plan for staffing had been to hire a significant number of new grads. We are now seeing many new grads coming through new hire orientation.  WSNA is hearing that at least some floors have more new grads than experienced nurses can adequately support. Please fill out an ADO if you find yourself in a situation where you are unable to support one or more new grads on a shift due to being assigned to precept multiple grads, have inadequate staffing, are also assigned to other roles such as charge nurses, etc. Managers are also telling nurses they are not liable if a new grad makes an error or patient harm occurs, and the new grad is operating under their “own license.” This is NOT true. To protect yourself, you may need to consider refusing an assignment. PLEASE sign up for nursing insurance if you don’t have it. It is very inexpensive at around $100/yr.

HOUSE STAFFING COMMITTEE

The House Staffing Committee meets again on Monday, September 9 from 11 am – 2 pm. If you would like to attend as an observer, please contact one of your staffing team members, a WSNA officer or your nurse rep for the link.

SIP n CHAT – STAFFING PLAN DISCUSSION

Wednesday, September 4 from 6 – 7:30 pm. Please plan to attend to discuss what is happening with staffing. Bring your comments, concerns, questions and learn what you can do to support your staffing team.

Microsoft Teams

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 256 034 732 386

Passcode: wke8P3

Dial in by phone

+1 206-485-2614,,502096185# United States, Seattle

(888) 313-0615,,502096185# 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