Union nurses say inadequate staffing at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital is a safety issue.
About a dozen employees represented by National Nurses United/National Nurses Organizing Committee rallied Tuesday night outside the emergency department entrance at the hospital on South Grand. The union has long argued that nurses are responsible for too many patients.
Union representatives said greater staffing may have been able to prevent the death last month of a person from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the hospital’s emergency department.
“Maybe the tragedy a month ago wouldn't have happened,” said Larry Voiles, an registered nurse who works at the hospital. “They would have seen that the person was depressed beforehand. But if they're so short-staffed in the ER that the nurses sometimes [have] got three times as many patients they should have.”
SSM Health representatives have pushed back, saying the nurses are taking advantage of an isolated case.
“SSM Health is deeply disappointed that the NNOC has chosen to exploit a tragic event to advance its own agenda,” a spokeswoman said in an email. “Their approach, unfortunately, reflects a pattern we’ve seen from the NNOC across the country.”
The health system said it continues to discuss concerns with its staff “not through rallies or publicity, but through genuine dialogue, support and commitment to excellence.”
The hospital’s union representative, nurse Kellie Allen, said workers are pushing not only for improved nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, but also for better security measures at the hospital.
Allen said the union would like to see charge nurses, who assign patients to other nurses and otherwise supervise workers on the floor, to be relieved of caring for patients during shifts.
Nurses said they had seen increases in safety measures since the November death, with more security guards rounding the building.
But Allen said staffing issues continue to put workers at risk.
“The more staff you have, the better you have an intervention and you can deescalate situations,” she said. “It's unacceptable. We are held to a high standard, as SSM should be held to a high standard.”
