Registered nurses rally outside Mission Hospital to highlight safety concerns

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Registered nurses at Mission Hospital rallied Monday morning to highlight their patient safety concerns, including a reported increase in workplace violence, broken equipment and unsafe staffing.

“HCA is at it again with prioritizing profits over patient care,” said Hannah Drummond, RN in the emergency department at Mission Hospital, in a press release. “As an emergency room nurse, it is unacceptable to have patients waiting more than 12 hours to receive care. Instead of increasing staffing in the Emergency Department to reduce wait times, HCA cut staff and sent nurses home. This is unconscionable. HCA doesn’t value our patients and the community we serve.”

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According to the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), whenever nurses have an unsafe staffing assignment that may lead to negative patient outcomes, the RNs document it in an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form and submit it to hospital management. In a recent ADO, a nurse reported that more than 25 patients had to wait in the waiting room for an entire day before being seen by a nurse.

“During my tenure as a cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) nurse at Mission Hospital, I have seen the quality of care diminish so rapidly,” said Katlin Myers, CVICU RN, in a press release. “The cardiovascular ICU has some of the most vulnerable patients, yet we are consistently given more patients than nurses can safely handle. HCA must put our patients first.”

In another recent ADO submitted to the hospital, a cardiovascular nurse documented an unsafe staffing assignment that resulted in a patient soiling themselves in bed.

“Our patients in behavioral health deserve the highest quality of care HCA can provide, but when we are working short staffed, it makes the units dangerous for all health care workers,” said Susan Pitcher, RN in the Copestone adolescent unit, in a press release. “Meds are delayed, meals are delayed, and care is delayed. HCA should reprioritize its record profits and put its resources into protecting our patients and staff.”

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In addition to unsafe staffing and workplace violence, nurses rallying on Monday claim they've had to work with broken equipment for months.

Some leading Monday's rally told News 13 they don't plan to leave for another workplace, but they plan to continue protesting for better conditions.

"We’re committed to staying here and investing in this community," Drummond told News 13 on Monday. "For a lot of us, this is, you know, our life, or homes or it’s the home that we’ve chosen to stay in and someone has to stay and fight and make it better."

National Nurses Organizing Committee represents nearly 1,500 registered nurses at Mission Hospital.

Mission Health sent the following statement to News 13 in regards to Monday's protest:

When colleagues are caring for patients with a mental health diagnosis, there is increased risk of violent behavior, sadly this is not at all uncommon in any ER or behavioral health unit across the country. Mission Hospital has multiple safety protocols in place, including duress badges that staff on our behavioral health units and across Mission Hospital wear that they can press to receive quick assistance with any issue. Additionally, we provide training classes for all ER staff, behavioral health staff, security and Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT) team members including a Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) course and a Care of the Behavioral Health Patient class. Mission Hospital has a CPI coordinator who has taught verbal de-escalation techniques for 30 years and is a Master Certified CPI instructor. Additionally, BERT drills are conducted throughout Mission Hospital to provide practice training for all staff in high acuity areas.

Any time a concern with equipment is raised, the Mission Hospital leadership team works to quickly address and correct any identified problems. Concerns with beds are no different, and in addition to promptly escalating and addressing reported concerns, the Hospital leadership team has been working with the manufacturer of our beds (who is regularly on-site) to perform periodic maintenance and provide support for work orders currently in progress.

As is often the case, the numbers and information provided by the union are just not accurate. Despite the union’s endless allegations, there has not been any finding that Mission Hospital has violated their contract in any way, including how we assign RNs to provide safe, appropriate patient care. Rather, this is yet another attempt by the union to publicly attack Mission to advance its own agenda.

Mission Health is continuing to recruit team members and, in the last two weeks, has hired more than 100 colleagues. We have more nurses working in the hospital now than we did a year ago at this time. We offer shift incentives and are building our talent pipeline through our relationship with our local education partners, our own get-paid-to-learn CNA program and the recent opening of the Galen College of Nursing. Mission Health also made a $20 million annual investment in salary increases for direct patient care staff.