How nurse strikes impact staffing
The impact of COVID-19 and all the subsequent medical issues has significantly strained our healthcare system. Nurses are among those most affected by these issues. As a result, nursing strikes occur, which impact hospitals.
Why do nursing strikes occur?
Nursing strikes often occur due to a variety of reasons. They do when they feel their working conditions, pay, or benefits are unjust or inadequate. They believe they receive low compensation, lack benefits, insufficient staffing, unsafe working conditions, and inadequate equipment or resources.
Nurses may also strike to protest changes to their contracts or working conditions or demand better healthcare for their patients. Strike action is a last resort, usually after they have tried to negotiate and no agreement is reached.
Lately, nursing strikes have occurred in dozens of states, including Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Oregon. Nurse strikes can have a significant impact on staffing. This results in a cascade of effects that may compromise patient care.
Its impact on staffing
Possibility of a ‘lockout’
A ‘lockout’ is when nurses cannot return to work after a strike. This happens when hospitals take on temporary nurses to fill in the gaps left by nurses on strike.
These temporary nurses are hired on a contractual basis. In some instances, hospitals may choose to wait until the contract ends for temporary nurses even though the strike has ended. Thus, the nurses on strike are effectively ‘locked out’ of the hospital and cannot return to work.
A lockout can be detrimental to the employed nurses and the hospital administration. This can lead to double the number of working personnel in the hospital, leading to overstaffing.
Little to no pay
Nurses under the hospital may receive little to no pay when strikes occur. Although their rights to strike are protected by laws that enable them to be protected from charges of patient abandonment, they are not entitled to compensation for their regular working hours. This could be a valuable amount deducted from their paycheck.
An issue like this could foment dissatisfaction among the employees. Various repercussions could arise from this.
Disillusioned nurses could choose to leave the hospital, increasing the turnover rate. A higher turnover rate would not look good for the hospital’s reputation. It could affect staffing, leading to depleted levels of staff and simultaneous difficulty in finding recruits to replace the nurses leaving the hospital.
Increased hospital expenses
Strikes affect not only the employees but also the hospital itself. Nurses going on strike can result in significant financial losses for healthcare organizations.
When nurses strike, hospitals and other healthcare facilities may need to hire temporary staff to replace the striking nurses, which can be costly. It is no walk in the park to look for temporary nurses as band-aid solutions.
Hospitals may hire travel nurses with higher rates and more expenses associated with flying them to the location and accommodating them.
When nurses are not present to provide care, patients may have to be transferred to other facilities, resulting in additional expenses. Strikes can lead to a bad reputation for a hospital and can result in lower staff levels and discourage nurses from applying there.
Scramble for temporary replacements
During strikes, staffing levels are depleted and, at the same time, doubled.
The roles left behind by the nurses on strike may pose a problem for the hospital. In this sense, the hospital is understaffed.
On the other hand, the hospital must find a way to replace these nurses temporarily quickly. Although there are travel nurses or contractual nurses available, there is still a process for their employment.
This could lead to several days when the hospital is short-staffed.
Hiring temporary replacements can also lead to a ‘lockout,’ which can double the number of nurses currently employed in the hospital.
Reduced staff expertise
The staff experiences a significant impact in terms of expertise during nursing strikes. Nursing strikes may lead to different situations wherein staff expertise is reduced.
Although capable in their own right, temporary nurses may need to familiarize themselves with the patients and protocols in place. This has led to incidents such as in 2016 wherein a temporary nurse from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis accidentally administered the wrong medication to a patient.
Nursing strikes may also leave behind inexperienced and new nurses in the field. Reduced staff expertise may pose a big problem to hospitals, including possible sanctions and destroyed reputations.
The impact of nurse strikes
Nurse strikes have a tremendous impact on the nursing world at large. Even in the field of staffing, its effects can be felt. However, it is far better to listen to what the nurses say and create solutions to the root of the problem. Preventing nursing strikes that could affect staffing is crucial in a suitable healthcare setting.