Annual Membership Meeting

On October 1st, the membership turned out in force to vote for new officers and delegates, constitutional amendments, and if needed, an informational picket to help resolve the treatment of five nurses in the ER. President McCarthy briefed the membership on grievance issues, staffing ratios, and the pilot sick time buy-back program. Delegate Kathie Reid spoke to the members about Resource Responsibilities and Andrea Rocha NYPNU student nurse intern spoke about how rewarding the internship opportunity has been for her. 

ELECTION RESULTS

Congratulations to our Union Leadership for taking upon the vast responsibility of representing NYPNU RNs.

Officers
President    Maureen McCarthy, RN
Vice President   Kathy Flynn, RN
Secretary      Maureen Wright, RN
Treasurer      Nancy Ward, RN

Executive Board

Lorelei Belo-Ynayan, RN
Regina Berg, RN
Jill Kaplan, RN
Roy Milbouer, RN
Mary Moloney, RN
Pamela Threets, RN
Linda Whitehead, RN

Delegates

Ann Berner, RN
Terry Boiko, RN
Elizabeth Bowe, RN
Marilyn Brown-Hagemann, RN
Taniki Brown, RN
Larry Buenaffe, RN
Virginia (Jenny) Carboni, RN
Dian Christie, RN
Erika Cooper, RN
Edna Igoe, RN
Charles Kyei, RN
Claribel Lopez, RN
Asuncion Mabaquiao, RN
Kate Maguire, RN
Kathleen Reid, RN
Elizabeth Sheehan, RN
Cindy Trifilo, RN

Grievance and Unit Updates 
8 East/Lachman Charge Nurse

In violation of the contract, staff RNs who were assigned resource responsibilities on 8 East/Lachman were being asked to type up a report for the entire unit. The hospital has agreed to respect the terms of the contract and ensure that Resource Responsibilities for nurses who have a patient assignment be limited to the following: (Article XXVIII CBA)

- Assuring that all scheduled staff have reported for duty.

- Assuring patient assignments are determined according to patient acuity and staff competency.

- Assigning breaks and notifying supervisor, Manager, or ADN if nurses are unable to take break as assigned.

- Assuring Emergency Carts / equipment are checked according to standard.

- Communicating urgent problems immediately to supervisor, Manager or ADN on duty.

Endoscopy

The Union has agreed to postpone the November 17th arbitration provided the hospital implement new protocols for the unit that will eliminate the issue of mandatory overtime when procedures are scheduled late in the day. Two new 12-8 PM positions are being added to help ensure coverage. We will continue to monitor the situation. The arbitration is now scheduled for February 2009.

ICU Charge

We have a settlement agreement with the Hospital. The Hospital has proposed that they will provide a clinical care coordinator who assumes charge duties, 6 days a week on all shifts. In the absence of a clinical care coordinator, they will provide a charge nurse, who does not have a patient care assignment. On day seven, the hospital will provide a charge nurse as per Article XXVIII of the CBA. This settlement agreement also includes the new clinical care coordinator job description, which clarifies their responsibilities. We will continue to monitor the situation and have adjourned the arbitration until March 2009.

Emergency Room Settlement Reached

As a result of your collective action in support of the 5 ER nurses, we have reached a settlement and have cancelled the informational picket.

Settlement Highlights

- All suspensions will be removed.

- The Hospital will provide education to the staff related to narcotics administration and appropriate documentation.

- The Hospital is committed to sitting down with the Union to analyze and make recommendations to resolve all the identified systems problems regarding medication dispensation, including pharmacy responsibilities.

- The Hospital agrees to honor its obligations under the contract with regard to nurse/patient ratios in the emergency room.

We thank you, our members for your overwhelming solidarity and support, without which we never would have been able to reach this agreement.

Delegate Training

It is important that we orient new delegates to their position. In the next couple of months, we will organize several delegate training sessions for both our continuing and new delegates. We want to support them to ensure they are prepared to represent you.

Unit Representatives

There are still a couple of unit representative positions that are not filled in Ambi Surgery,

4 Uris, 9 East/9 Lachman, 8 Wollman and Same Day.

Please contact the Union Office if you are interested in learning more about becoming a Union Representative.

6 Uris/NCCU/Well Baby

We are monitoring this area because of a documented pattern of short staffing and unsafe nurse/patient ratios on these units.

Ms. Monchek, the new Director, has promised to improve the situation and has hired a new Nurse Manager who started working earlier this month. The hospital is presently interviewing to fill a second Nurse Manager position. The Director has also met with the unit ward secretaries to ensure that clerical duties are streamlined to allow for nurses to have more time to perform their clinical responsibilities. We have a follow up meeting scheduled for the end of October.

Verbal Order Reminder

Remember, we are urging all RNs to adhere to the following:

- Never accept verbal orders from anyone, for anyone at any time under any circumstances.

- Never pull any medication for anyone else to administer (MD, PA or other RN.) If you pull it you must administer it.

- Do not pull any medication unless the order has been properly entered.

- Document all medications immediately and appropriately.

PBS Special

PBS will explore the impact of the nursing shortage on patients. The program will examine the root causes of this crisis, and innovative efforts to reverse the trend. We encourage you to watch.