Registered nurses at Doctors Medical Center (DMC) in Modesto, California, are set to hold a picket on Tuesday, July 30, raising critical concerns about patient safety and persistent understaffing at the hospital. The action, organized by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), aims to draw attention to what nurses describe as a deteriorating environment of care due to mismanagement by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, the hospital’s owner.
Nurses at Doctors Medical Center Modesto report that in recent months, patient care has been significantly compromised due to the hospital administration’s inadequate handling of registered nurse staffing levels. They claim that chronic short staffing has become the norm, leading to situations where patient safety is directly at risk. According to the nurses, the situation reached a critical point last week when hospital management instructed RNs to leave their shifts prematurely. This decision forced the remaining nurses to take on significantly increased patient loads, spreading already thin resources even further. Nurses indicate that nearly every unit within Doctors Medical Center Modesto is currently operating below appropriate staffing levels.
Lynn Warmerdam, a case management RN at Doctors Medical Center Modesto, emphasized the grave implications of these staffing shortages. “When hospitals ration nursing care like Doctors Medical Center Modesto is doing, it leads to increased patient complications and preventable deaths,” Warmerdam stated. “As registered nurses, we are bound by our professional ethics to advocate for our patients and challenge these unjust practices. Doctors Medical Center Modesto management’s continued prioritization of profit over patient well-being is unacceptable, and we, the RNs, are taking a stand against it.”
The informational picket, open to media coverage, is scheduled as follows:
- Who: Registered Nurses of Doctors Medical Center Modesto, represented by CNA/NNU
- What: Patient Safety Picket and Media Availability
- When: Tuesday, July 30, 2024, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
- Where: Doctors Medical Center, 1441 Florida Ave, Modesto, CA, public sidewalk outside the hospital
To formally document the unsafe staffing conditions, nurses at Doctors Medical Center Modesto have filed numerous Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) forms. These filings detail instances where nurses were placed in situations they deemed unsafe for patients due to inadequate staffing. The challenging working conditions are reportedly contributing to a significant exodus of experienced nurses from Doctors Medical Center Modesto. This attrition is creating a shortage of seasoned RNs who are crucial for mentoring and training newly graduated nurses, further straining the hospital’s capacity to deliver quality patient care.
The California Nurses Association currently represents approximately 1,200 registered nurses at Doctors Medical Center Modesto. CNA/NNU is recognized as the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association for registered nurses in the United States, representing over 100,000 members in more than 200 healthcare facilities across California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide.
