Hospitals disagree with nurses

Friday, Nov. 26, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

A spokesman for area hospitals where nurses complain they are being overworked says the facilities "do not make any decisions that would sacrifice our top quality health care."

Valley Health System, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services which operates Desert Springs and Valley hospitals, issued the statement following Wednesday's protest where several nurses dressed in their pajamas and posed for news cameras in front of the facilities.

The protest, in effect, said that UHS, the nation's third-largest for-profit hospital chain, refuses to hire more nurses to meet the demand but instead overworks its staff to the point where the health care workers might as well go to the hospitals prepared to sleep there.

"Valley Hospital and Desert Springs Hospital are disappointed that the (nurses) union has made the decision to put forth this type of public display and present issues that are factually incorrect," said the hospitals' spokesman, Ray Brown.

"(The hospitals) are aggressively recruiting nurses to fill positions."

The nurses say the hospitals' policy of requiring them to be on call has stretched their shifts from regular 36 hours to as many as 80 hours a week. Some nurses have complained of working as many as 22 hours in a 24-hour period.

"On call, per diem and agency nurses are necessary to fill in for other nurses (who) call in sick," Brown said. "Thus on-call is necessary to provide quality health care.

"Many nurses actually request the on-call shift because they receive additional pay for these shifts. Desert Springs and Valley hospitals do not make any decisions that would sacrifice our top quality health care."

Tom Beatty, executive director of the Nevada Service Employees International Union Local 1107, which represents area nurses, said nurses are paid $2 an hour for every hour they are on call and receive time and a half for every on-call hour they actually work.

However, he said, the issue is not one of additional pay but rather of skilled health care workers operating at peak efficiency.

The union currently is in contract negotiations with Desert Springs and Valley hospitals.

The issue of nursing staffing and shortages is scheduled to be examined tonight in a segment of the ABC news magazine "20/20." It will air on KTNV-TV Channel 13 at 10 p.m.