Dozens of registered nurses rallied outside Carondelet St. Mary’s Hospital Friday morning, raising concerns about staffing ratios and workload demands they say are impacting patient care.
Maria Manzanarez, an ICU registered nurse who has worked at St. Mary’s Hospital for about a year, said a normal nurse-to-patient ratio is one nurse to four patients—but that is not what she is seeing on the floor.
“Right now, we’re seeing like one nurse to six patients,” Manzanarez said.
She said higher patient loads are leading to delays in care.
“Meds aren’t delivered on time. We’re not able to like clean our patients, so some patients are sitting in stool or urine and we’re not able to get to them. So, it’s just delaying all the care that we’re trying to do for our patients, not having the appropriate staffing,” Manzanarez said.
Jaclyn Steinke, a telemetry nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital, said she has seen similar ratios during her time there…