As negotiations are set to resume, nurses take aim at EMMC claims/eastern main
I am sure that the nurses wanted replacements to stay. And how much do these agency nurses cost. 50.00 or 60.00 dollars an hour? No experience in EMMC and possibly the state?
There is a direct correlation between infections and quality of care. Staff ratio to patients. ..the staff instructions on hand washing etc. It may sound but it can save your life. For you in day to day life as well. It was found in England when they had a huge outbreak of MRSA that doctors who wore ties were carrying the germs around from patient to patient by their ties. Check out more than one source of the high incidence of deaths in hospitals to see why bottom line does not need to be in any health care system. And why the US is so r down on the list of good health care world wide. Because currently money rules. Maine has excellent health care over all. Hope money doesn&8217;t win out with EMMC. They are a treasure. We should treat the nurses who bring us high quality of care all the while with kindness and good humor like the dedicated professionals that they are.
I am 100 percent certain that this data is accurate， she said in a telephone interview. Rodgerson said the staffing information in the report is compiled from actual patient assignment sheets and reflects any changes from scheduled staffing that may have occurred.
I personally don&8217;t think this is true. Yes， EMMC is trying to protect the bottom line， like any responsible business should. In todays economy， hospitals are shutting down all over the country. What happens to the 3000+ jobs then?
So Maine staffing is keeping with the rest of the country. Nothing to brag about. Have read that accidental deaths in the hospital was the second leading cause of death.This link sayeastern maine healths may be third. At any rate ， it is high up in places you can go to accidentally go dead.
Its unfortunate to continue to see struggle between a National agenda and this local hospital. The Union continues to smear EMMC as unsafe. Nursing is a tough and demanding profession as many direct patient care professions are but you can not displace the administrative&8217;s ability to adjust and maintain the schedule. It would be nice to have 10 nurses per patient but it is unfeasible and unrealistic. What we are looking at is a Union fighting using patients as shields and scaring the public into thinking hospitals are unsafe unless there are a gazillion nurses there. It defeats the whole issue. I am sure teachers alike would enjoy having 2 students per teacher.
Accusing RN&8217;s， or any EMMC employees， of treating patients badly is serious business. I hope you have the documentation and witnesses to support your charges.
I spent almost six months advocating for a mily member who was hospitalized at EMMC a few years ago. I believe they would have killed here had I not been there every day to check on her care. It was not the nurses&8217; ult but the unbelievably screwed up administration; changing doctors every time you turned around， most of which were foreign and who did not pass on all the information between them. Some spoke limited English and weren&8217;t logging in everything into the hospital computer system. Patient call were being routed thru the master switchboard and were often not forward the the appropriate nursing floor/wing at all. They were so understaffed with nurses on the floor that I could walk out of the room and see every room on the wing with the red call lights on and only two nurses on duty working their &8220;you know whats&8221; off. I could go on with specifics of the horrible care that had nothing to do with the nurses efforts. They did the best they could under terrible conditions， but many of you would never believe it anyway. Let me just say this&8230;.based on that experience， I wouldn&8217;t take my dog to that place， or anyone I wanted to keep alive.
What really should be addressed if patients are seeing less care by the nurses EMMC shouldn&8217;t necessarily hiring more nurses but look the things that take the nurses out of the room should be addressed， just hiring more nurses is and will not solve anything just add to the several instances of miscommunication.
Good point， I hope the union understands that it is serious business to accuse EMMC of treating patients badly and giving bad care without documentation or witnesses to support their charges.
I will say it again. old hippie， I love my job. I love my co-workers and want the best for them. Maybe working at EMMC is not the best for them， maybe it is. Those &8220;lazy， selfish incompetents&8221; do not ruin my &8220;pefect&8221; workplace. You are taking a lot of liberties with what I said.
If &8220;high end Nursing staffing&8221; is required to maintain the high standards of care that earns EMMC the national recognition they have deservedly enjoyed until now， then the question is &8220;Can Maine afford to not provide the staffing required to continue providing outstanding care?&8221;
Now we come to this negotiation and we are no close to an agreement. I don&8217;t really think we will get r this time eiher before negotiations deteriorate. We learned nothing from this history. The 2 sides at the table act as i they have nothing to lose so why shoudl they give in? What they il to realize is the people who work and live and breath， the people who are the medical center are being hurt. Please for our sakes， for the sae of our great and wonderful medical center， bargain&8230;negotiate&8230;give a little&8230;
I am not a victim. As I said over and over I am proud to work at EMMC. Anyone who isn&8217;t should work somewhere else.
But Lorraine Rodgerson， vice president for nursing services at EMMC， said the nurses are off base.
According to Vanessa Sylvester of the Maine State Nurses Association， the data used to compile the report is misleading and incomplete. For example， she said， the patient census reflected in the report does not include patients assigned to a units charge nurse. In addition， she said， the nationally accepted staffing levels referenced in the hospital report are based on a New England Journal of Medicine article from 2003 that draws on data from the 1990s. Technology， patient acuity and other ctors have changed much in intervening years and should be reflected in any current staffing plan， Sylvester said.
Documentation&8230;these are records kept by adminstration and the union when disciplinng nurses who do not follow hospital policy. I am not accusing anyone&8230;simply reporting.
Greg Howat， vice president for human resources and chief negotiator for the hospital， said nurses are following a pattern of drumming up support for the staffing issue in the days leading up to a negotiating session.
During the last negotiations one of the adminstrators and a memer of the negotiaiong team for the medical center had her car keyed， another as hollered at in th ehallways of the hospital， outside a paient&8217;s room. These are the people who are representing the nurses. Thugs， indeed.
The report includes detailed information about scheduled and actual staffing on the hospitals adult inpatient units dating back to August 2010， the month before the nurses three-year contract at EMMC expired.
Agreed， however， according to your link&8217;s report， by r the majority are caused by infections and non-error adverse effects of medications: &8220;The report apparently shows there are 2，000 deaths/year from unnecessary surgery; 7000 deaths/year from medication errors in hospitals; 20，000 deaths/year from other errors in hospitals; 80，000 deaths/year from infections in hospitals; 106，000 deaths/year from non-error， adverse effects of medications &8230;&8221;
None of the nurses I know wanted the replacement to stay. We， as a group， by and large love our jobs and just want to do good work.
So， as a nurse&8230;.and a sa decidedly non-union proponent I must say this issue has torn me， and many of my co-workers， union and otherwise， apart. First let me &8220;take aim&8221; at the union. Many of the nurses who are being quoted in the s I have known for years. By and large they have been unhappy disgruntled people since I have know them. Many of them have， since before they were nurses， enjoyed the role of playing the victim and what better place to play that role then at the big bad medical center who only cares about their bottom line. It stands to reason that disgrubtled people who enjoy pretending to be a victim woudl become disgruntled nurses. They continue to say its about patient safety， and yet when there are nurses who do not follow hospital policy， nurses who take naps whiel at work， who continue to make mistakes， who treat people&8230;patients&8230;badly， the union goes to bat for them when they are disciplined. In my opinion th eunion does not exist to protect patients. The union exists to protect bad nurses， and to create conflict with administration. Now for the Medical Center. I have worked off and on in many different capacities in the medical center for close to 25 years. One of the mantras of the medical center is acting like an owner. I do&8230;every day. I love the medical center and I feel like I make a difference in the hospital， in my community and the state because of the work I do. I am deicated， hard working， love my job， love my co-workers and treat them with respect (even when some don&8217; deseerve it). I am proud to tell people I am a nurse and I work at Eastern Maine Medical Center. The administration is proud to tell people of our great national reputation. We are a model hospital. The reason we are such a great hospital， a preferred place to work in the state， with a great nationla reputation is because we have a group of people who work here tht act like owners. We take pride n our jobs and when we are asked to do something， even if it seems impossible we say &8220;Bring it on&8221;. We are can-do people. When negotiations deteriorated last ll and the strike was intitated， which initiated the subsequent lock-out， we were replaced. And when we returned we were made to feel like things went great while we were not there. All the hard work， all the dedication， all the ownership we felt came to naught as we were told time and again by people we work with that they wished the replacements could stay. I have never felt less like and owner in my life， and I have never been treated more like a replaceable employee in my life. It still leaves a pit in my stomach thinking abotu it.
Not sure if you have some reading comprehension issue or what， but the poster Olde Hippie was replying to a poster (nurse) who was not supportive of the union nurses at all， so not sure why you brought up about the unions in that context.
Its really more for public consumption than any real reflection of whats on the table， he sAs negotiations are set to resume, nurses take aim at EMMC claims/eastern mainaid. Howat said other issues， including health care coverage， remain contentious challenges to reaching an agreement. Howat maintains that the Maine nursing union， which is affiliated with the California Nurses Association， is reflecting a national agenda to safeguard nurses jobs in a changing health care environment.
You had a terrible experience. I wonder how many other people have experienced something similar. It should not happen to any patient.
many contradictions， indeed， which should tell you how conflicted I am about this topic. I apologize for my typing skills. And as diatribes go this was pretty short&8230;rambling， but short
Contract talks with a federal mediator are scheduled to resume on Monday， Feb. 28.
We hear both sides， but not being a nurse there， or a patient， it is hard to know what to believe. Someone isn&8217;t portraying the situation accurately.
EMMC is very transparent as a hospital. If you want access to their data they will give it to you. Can the union say the same?
Another example of how the Canadians Health Care is..
Having said all that， as an owner I want to personally aplogize to you for the experience you had. If you give us a chance we would like the opportunity to provide you with very good care. Thank you for you consideration.
So now EMMC is up data to support their side of things. If this is really true and/or the nurses of the union really believe this， then I do not understand why they would want to continue to work there. If EMMC is that corrupt， I think that people should jump ship.
Lorraine looks out for the interests of her employer， as any conscientious employee would do. You can&8217;t ult her for that.
It appears that you are the one who introduced &8220;take aim&8221; into the comments section， in the second line of your long and rambling diatribe toward your co-workers; stating that they were &8220;disgrubtled&8221; (your word) people with psychological problems. Your paragraph is loaded with contradictions， stating that you love your coworkers after asserting there are nurses who &8220;do not follow hospital policy， nurses who take naps whiel (sic) at work， who continue to make mistakes， who treat people&8230;patients&8230;badly.&8221; It looks to me that you might be the person seeking to be seen as the victim; you who are deicated (sic)， hard working， love your job &8211; poor you who must suffer because all those lazy and selfish incompetents have ruined your perfect workplace experience.
I agree with you that the answer is ultimately yes， beyond some point. But I think it&8217;s too soon to decide that health care in Maine has reached that point.
A report published on the hospitals website shows that for the past five months， staffing has been in keeping with accepted standards， starting with nationally accepted guidelines for optimum nurse staffing on a shift， and then adjust[ing] for patient acuity， nursing skill mix and admission and discharge activity.
I just thought it ironic that Olde Hippie was saying that people shouldn&8217;t accuse people of things that they don&8217;t have proof of， yet that is what the union is doing.
So much for behaving like &8220;professional nurses&8221; of my generation&8230;
I went to a restaurant once and go average service， the food was sub par and the tmosphere was not what i thought it was going to be. I Paid my bill and have not been back. While thats not the best analogy (there are many many restaurants to choose from in this area， and not nearly as many hospitals) we are reminded we as nurses are also in the service industry. I can speak from experience that we are not now understaffed. The docotrs that work at EMMC are dedicated bright and caring health care professionals， &8220;foreign&8221; and otherwise. The red lights outside the room indicate there is a nurse in tha room， not a pending call. We are NOT understaffed. We have policies in place to protect patients and current ratios are appropriate. Yes， we work hard， and some days we work very hard. Some days our assignments are uncomfortable， but not&8230;NOT&8230;unsafe.
Much as most of us would like to see it， the question probably needs to be asked， &8220;Can Maine afford to be in the forefront of having &8220;high-end&8221; nursing staffing levels compared to national &8220;standards&8221;?&8221; It is a discussion that needs to be had， though， in some shion， and periodically.
Be careful what you say here as you may find a few of the &8220;union thugs&8221; terrorizing your mily in front of your house.
I&8217;ve a feeling Greg Howat is protecting his job &8220;in a changing health care environment.&8221;
http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/24/canadian-mily-life-support-battle-denied-request-hospital-transfer/
Unfortunately， beyond some point， I&8217;m afraid the answer is yes. But up to that point， wherever it is located， and I have no idea where that point is， we do the best we can.
Its ironic that some people in the union have reported incidence of intimidation by managers and administrators， when it is th eunion that engages in ntimidation&8230;hollering at passers by as they picket&8230;picketing outside of people&8217;s homes&8230;disgraceful!!
You are correct. There certainly is a direct correlation between infections and quality of care and you would think most people could see that as a &8220;no brainer.&8221; There has been documented proof that ， in many hospitals (not just in Maine) that health care professionals are so overworked， overextended and harried， that they don&8217;t wash their hands as they should. Not good.
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and another thing&8230;can we please stop using terms like &8220;take aim&8221;&8230;Gabby Giffords taught us nothing?
Nurses and their supporters have picketed recently outside businesses owned by hospital board members.
As negotiations are set to resume, nurses take aim at EMMC claims/eastern main，BANGOR， Maine A few days before their next contract negotiation session， unionized nurses at Eastern Maine Medical Center on Wednesday took aim at administrators claims that staffing levels at the 400-bed hospital are in keeping with and often higher than nationally accepted standards.
Maybe the protesters are looking out for the hospital?