Press Release: Corona Nurses Speak Out to Improve Patient Safety
May 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2014
Contact: Jeff Rogers
909.263.7230 / jeff.rogers@unacuhcp.org
Corona Nurses Speak out to Improve Patient Safety
Corona Nurses to address city council, send delegation to Corona CEO and alert the UHS CEO and shareholders about patient safety concerns.
Corona, CA- Nurses at Corona Regional Medical Center are pushing for increased quality care for their patients as well as patients in other UHS medical centers across the country.
A group of Corona Regional RNs will deliver a letter highlighting concerns about patient safety to Corona Regional’s CEO Mark Uffer. Another group of Corona RNs will address the Corona City Council about the same issues.
Corona ER nurse Marie Narisma, RN, and other caregivers traveled across the country to address UHS CEO Alan Miller, the Board of Directors, and shareholders at their annual meeting in King of Prussia, PA today. Narisma will discuss chronic understaffing, wait times exceeding four hours in Corona’s ER, and unsafe patient conditions.
Patient safety is at issue because UHS facilities have a history of unsafe conditions. For example, at UHS Sierra Vista in Sacramento, lack of attention to sanitation led to multiple MRSA outbreaks in the hospital. In Corona, patients in the emergency department were left in a corner without supervision or medication while waiting for test results, and an electronic records system was implemented without proper staff training. These concerns drove Narisma to travel to Pennsylvania to let UHS CEO Alan Miller know what is happening under his watch.
“UHS needs to take responsibility for the situation in UHS Corona Regional Medical Center. The nurses are pushing improvements for our patients’ safety, and hospital administration needs the support of UHS corporate to make it happen. We all want quality patient care and a safe hospital,” said Narisma.
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UNAC/UHCP is the largest nurses’ union in Southern California representing over 24,000 Registered Nurses and other health care professionals, including Optometrists; Pharmacists; Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists; Nurse Midwives; Social Workers; Clinical Lab Scientists; Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.
MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection caused by a strain of staph bacteria that's become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections. For more information: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mrsa/basics/definition/con-20024479