,” Reyes tells SELF. As she sees it, staffing shortages have added stress to an already weakened workforce. “I’ve been here for 20 years, and I’ve trained so many nurses over the years,” Reyes says. “[Now,] I’m seeing them walk right out within six months. They’re leaving us for other institutions where they see the staffing is appropriate.” Reyes adds that Montefiore currently has about 700 nursing vacancies—and that she fears more nurses will leave due to the chaos of the current strike.
If nurses don’t have enough hours in the day, very important questions patients need answers to can be overlooked. “When we are put in a position where we are taking care of so many patients that we don’t have the time to do more than the most rudimentary assessment, the patient suffers,” Higgins says.
Patients aside, nurses themselves are in crisis, Reyes says. She says it’s not unusual to work a 12.5 hour shift without a break, and that nurses are treated like machines: “[It’s] like, ‘Let’s put in another battery, because we’re not allowed to take a bathroom break, have coffee, take a minute, check on your kids, your loved ones.’ We don’t get that.”
Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: truthout - 🏆 69. / 68 Read more »