After four days away from Ascension Seton Medical Center, nurses said they returned this past weekend to reports of substandard patient care —
- wound dressings left unchanged
- lab work neglected
- and discharges delayed.
Kris Fuentes, a nurse in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, was among a group of more than 600 nurses who participated in a one-day strike on June 27. She and her colleagues hoped the strike would put pressure on Ascension Seton’s negotiations with the nurses' union as it pushed for guaranteed staffing ratios, among other provisions.
The hospital threw a wrench in the striking nurses’ plans when it barred them from returning to work for an additional three days in order to fulfill a contract with temporary staff who covered shifts during the strike. Nurses from the union objected, criticizing Ascension for using its financial resources to pay for travel nurses rather than meet the union’s demand to hire more full time staff.
https://www.kut.org/health/2023-07-06/ascension-seton-nurses-say-patient-care-suffered-during-post-strike-lockout