Opinion: The hospital staffing crisis and the importance of Alaska bedside nurses

Please allow me to draw back the curtain on Providence Alaska Medical Center’s manufactured nurse staffing crisis. I work in the Progressive Care Unit, one of two units that initiated “virtual nursing” this fall. Hospital leadership is using the addition of virtual nurses as an excuse to increase the number of patients that bedside nurses must care for. They claim that their reduction in bedside staff is a response to a projected nursing shortage in the state. Providence is wise to begin preparing for an aging population and dwindling supply of young workers. We must question how to attract and retain nurses moving forward. Unfortunately, Providence’s response to this workforce shortage is swiftly exacerbating the crisis.

Empirical research has shown that a primary driver for nurses leaving the bedside is inadequate staffing and unsafe patient assignments. Hospitals cannot retain nurses who must drown in tasks in order to provide safe care. Nurses cannot morally accept working for an institution that will undermine patient safety to protect its own bottom line. All of my coworkers recognize this. Twenty-five percent of the nurses on my unit have already left or applied to other jobs since Providence announced an increase in our patient assignment. Those who have left were some of the most experienced nurses on my unit. They were the primary trainers of new nurses and the leaders during patient emergencies. A wealth of knowledge has left, and patient safety is at risk because of it.

Many brave nurses have spoken out against Providence’s unsafe staffing changes. Providence leadership has responded to several nurses with intimidation and retaliatory action. These actions prompted the Alaska Nurses Association to file three additional unfair labor practice charges recently for surveillance, retaliation and union busting. Providence has made it clear that they will violate our employee rights to protect their narrative. Nurses are making it clear that they will not remain allegiant to an institution that disrespects them.

Providence seems content to accept the existing level of nurse turnover and migration away from bedside care. The passing of the Nurse Licensure Compact would further de-incentivize hospitals from retaining staff and weaken our union’s collective bargaining power. Providence may benefit from a revolving door of traveling nurses provided to them by the NLC. And every semester, they will have a fresh batch of cheap new nurses to replace the burnt-out experienced nurses less tolerant of unsafe working conditions. But these circumstances will not benefit our community nor enrich the experience of bedside nursing. Providence’s cure preserves the disease.

Nurses believe that our community deserves better than out-of-state attempts to undercut our local workforce. Providence sets the standard of care as the highest acuity and most prestigious facility in the state. I believe they are degrading this standard of care for Alaskans who cannot receive higher quality care without traveling to Seattle. If Providence succeeds at eliminating bedside nurses, Alaska’s other major hospitals may follow suit.

The time has come to welcome a state-mandated nurse staffing bill. I urge my community members and my legisalstors to engage in this discussion this legislative session. Let’s halt Providence’s manufactured nursing shortage and defend the health and safety of this community.

Madison Eckhart has been an Anchorage nurse for 5 1/2 years.

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