Riverside Community Hospital Urges Registered Nurse Not to Report Serious Patient Care Incidents to Department of Health Services
Posted on: Thursday, 22 June 2006, 21:00 CDT
RIVERSIDE, Calif., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- This week HCA/Riverside Community Hospital management sent a letter urging a Registered Nurse not to report serious patient care incidents to the California Department of Health Services (DHS) or other government agencies. A cardiac care patient could have suffered serious complications or death due to the incidents.
After the incidents, the Registered Nurse completed an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form for submittal to management, the DHS, and other government agencies. ADO is a form used by caregivers to inform the hospital and appropriate government agencies about unsafe working conditions and patient care risks. Among other issues, the form documented the hospital's lack of adherence to state mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.
On June 17th, the Registered Nurse received a letter signed by her supervisor which falsely stated that there was a rule restricting the use of ADO forms and urged the Registered Nurse to report future unsafe staffing incidents on a form that is only reviewed internally by hospital management. The letter was also signed by the hospital's Chief Operating Officer and had been reviewed and approved by the hospital's Chief Nursing Officer.
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West and SEIU 121 RN, the unions representing RCH caregivers, gave notice to the hospital Monday that the letter appears to violate California Labor Code sections 1102-1106, which states that, "an employer may not make, adopt or enforce any rule, regulation, or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute ... or regulation." As with any written directive from a manager to an employee, the letter also implies that caregivers may be disciplined if they continue to report such incidents to government agencies.
Hospital management has regularly denied that short staffing and involuntary overtime transpire inside the hospital. However, caregivers say both are regular practices and see evidence that staffing levels are the product of profit driven policies set at the Nashville, Tennessee headquarters of RCH's corporate parent, HCA. Caregivers say that patient care is regularly put in jeopardy due to understaffing.
The Registered Nurse is one of over 3,000 healthcare workers at HCA/Riverside Community Hospital, HCA/West Hills Medical Center, and HCA/Los Robles Medical Center fighting for a fair contract that gives them a real voice in staffing levels and eliminates involuntary overtime. Nearly 1,000 caregivers are fighting for the same patient care standards at HCA/Good Samaritan Hospital and HCA/Regional Medical Center in San Jose.
On Sunday, June 18th, SEIU UHW and SEIU 121 RN sent a document requesting the CEO of RCH to rescind the letter to the RN and issue a written statement to all employees that says management does not intend to restrict caregivers from exercising their rights to report unsafe conditions to any government agencies and will not discipline the Registered Nurse or any similarly situated employee for using ADO forms. After receiving no response from management by Thursday, the union called for a formal DHS investigation.
Contact: Thea Lavin c.510-520-7732
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Thea Lavin of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, mobile,+1-510-520-7732
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
Source: PRNewswire
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