Placing ER patient beds in hallways and squeezing two patients into rooms designed for one were common practices during the pandemic, but now that the COVID-19 State of Emergency has ended so too should these practices, say some UCLA nurses.
On Wednesday, March 1, a small group of UCLA nurses rallied outside the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to speak out against hospital overcrowding in a protest organized by the California Nursing Association, a union representing about 100,000 nurses across the state and 18,000 nurses at the University of California.
The protesting nurses say that the continuing overflow practices are compromising patient care and safe working conditions. They say they would rather see the UCLA hospitals create capacity by reducing the number of elective surgeries, than by continuing to place two patients in rooms designed for one.
In a statement issued in response, UCLA Health Center said that patient and staff safety is its top priority, but noted that overflow practices are still necessary at times to handle patient volume.
“UCLA Health carefully tracks bed availability, patient discharges, planned procedures, supplies, and other data around the clock to inform strategic decisions about staffing, use of overflow areas and use of a limited number of shared patient rooms when necessary to accommodate high volumes of patients seeking care,” a hospital spokesperson said.
The nurses say they are frustrated by the lack of communication from UCLA on how they plan to phase out the emergency practices. The California Department of Public Health waivers that permitted overflow measures expired alongside the State of Emergency on Feb. 28.
“We have tried to warn UCLA about the existing patient safety issues with shared rooms,” said RN Mary Gay Dacquel, who works in a medical-surgical specialty unit. In her written statement, she said, “UCLA has ignored our recommendations and refused to tell us their plan after the (state) waiver…
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