RENO, April 7, 2008 – SEIU Nevada questioned Renown Health’s commitment to the highest quality cardiovascular care even as the Renown Institute for Heart Health sponsors a conference today on “Trends in Cardiovascular Nursing.”
It’s not enough to “talk the talk” – nurses are calling on Renown Regional Medical Center to walk the walk by fixing the elevators patients and nurses use for access to operating rooms – including those used for open heart surgery.
My Story, by Robin Marquez, RN, Surgery
“Nurses like me rely on our hospital to provide an environment where we can safely care for patients, without fear of losing our license – or for our own health and wellbeing.
“When Renown designed the new ‘luxury’ tower, there were supposed to be designated elevators to surgical units and the helipad. These elevators were to be used for moving critically ill and injured patients quickly and safely, for example to and from surgery or the life flight helicopter.
“This is an incredibly stressful situation for me and my fellow nurses. Moving a patient with all their equipment through operating rooms and the hospital looks easy on TV – but it’s a different story in real life, it’s exhausting. We had no voice in how the new hospital was designed, or whether to open the new tower before it was ready, but it is our license on the line in ensuring that patients are safe and well cared for.
“A luxury hospital shouldn’t be lacking in such essentials as working elevators. We deserve better.”
Experts Agree! Hospitals need to take surgery seriously.
According to the national quality improvement initiative, the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP), 40 percent of the 42 million surgeries that are performed every year in America result in postoperative complications.[1] This Project is engaging with hospitals like Renown to help implement best practices that can help reduce the number of patients who have to suffer through infections or heart attacks or other painful complications after surgery. According to the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, Renown only follows “process of care” guidelines known to reduce the risk of postoperative infections and complications 71 percent of the time.[2] Doesn’t every patient deserve a safe recovery from surgery?
SEIU Nevada nurses are asking Renown – help us spend more time helping patients by fully staffing our hospital!
This is the 7th story in a 10-day countdown to the SEIU nurses at Renown’s rally for patient care on April 10. For more information about SEIU contract negotiations at Renown, to interview a nurse or to talk to an academic expert about why we need enforceable staffing ratios in our hospitals, contact Hilary Haycock at 745-1532 or hhaycock@seiunv.org. Or visit our website at http://www.seiunv.org/healthcare/renonurses/Default.aspx.
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[1] http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/15194/
[2] www.healthinsight.org or www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov