Hospitals are bursting at the seams and health care workers are being pushed to their limits.
A group of nightshift emergency room nurses and other staff were told to leave DMC's Sinai-Grace hospital late Sunday night after they staged a sit-in, demanding more help to treat a surge of COVID-19 patients, the Detroit News reports.
Sal Hadwan, an emergency room attending who was dismissed, told The Detroit News that he and nurses staged the sit-in inside their breakroom to voice concerns to management before their shift started Sunday night at the nortthwest Detroit hospital on West Outer Drive.
The News reports:
Seven nightshift workers left the hospital hugging, reflecting on the commitment they made for the safety of their patients, family and themselves, he said. Day-shift nurses supported the sit-in and stayed for 24-hours to cover the nurses who left.
We are disappointed that last night a very small number of nurses at Sinai-Grace Hospital staged a work stoppage in the hospital refusing to care for patients. Despite this, our patients continued to receive the care they needed as other dedicated nurses stepped in to provide care," the hospital said.
DMC issued a statement:
We are disappointed that last night a very small number of nurses at Sinai-Grace Hospital staged a work stoppage in the hospital refusing to care for patients. Despite this, our patients continued to receive the care they needed as other dedicated nurses stepped in to provide care," the hospital said.
Jamie Brown, president of the Michigan Nurses Association and a critical care nurse at Ascension Borgess, responds to DMC’s decision to send its RNs home:
“Nurses around the state are desperately doing everything we can to keep our patients and ourselves safe. Eventually, a tipping point is reached where the best thing any RN can do for their patients, their families, and their coworkers is to speak out rather than remain silent.
"Until hospitals start taking the concerns of nurses seriously, it’s only a matter of time before more actions like these occur. It is absolutely essential that hospitals start working with nurses and stop silencing our voices.”
