UC Irvine To Fire Nurse Who Questioned Unsafe Patient Care Practices

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 30 Jun 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Registered nurses and hospital employees will hold a patient care vigil Tuesday night, at UC Irvine Medical Center (UCIMC), to protest the administration's retaliatory actions against Ethel Mark, an RN who has worked in the hospital's cardiac care unit for the last seven years as a model patient advocate. Ms. Mark was informed that she could expect to be terminated by the beginning of July.

"Patient advocacy means speaking out on behalf of your patients, and being willing to expose and challenge management decisions that negatively impact patient care," said Jill Furillo, RN, Southern California Director of the California Nurses Association (CNA) which represents UC RNs. "Ethel Mark, RN had a legal and ethical obligation under the state's Nursing Practice Act to challenge unsafe practices and she acted accordingly."

Patient Advocacy Vigil

When: Tuesday, June 30, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Where: UC Irvine Medical Center (by shuttle stop)
101 The City Drive South - Orange, CA 92868

Ethel Mark and CNA's Professional Practice Committee at UCI have been working to compel management to correct the following unsafe patient care practices.

1. Unsafe "floating": Ms. Mark has actively opposed UCI management's decision to require nurses to work in the heart monitor unit (telemetry) who do not have the clinical expertise and orientation to work in the specialty unit as required by law. Despite ongoing concerns, UCI continues these unsafe staffing practices.

2. Lack of adequate break relief staffing. Patients have a right to safe and adequate staffing at all times under state law, including when their nurse is on break. Many RNs including Ms. Mark have consistently pushed for adequate break relief coverage, but UCI still refuses to provide it. RNs work 12-hour shifts and are entitled to 75 minutes of meal and break periods.

3. Malfunctioning narcotics pumps. Earlier this year Ms. Mark alerted management of several instances of faulty narcotics pumps. In fact, six months earlier UCIMC pulled one third of all of these pumps because they failed mechanical tests. As of now, the remaining malfunctioning pumps still have not been replaced or fixed.

Following the Tuesday night vigil, CNA along with RNs from throughout the hospital, will represent Ethel Mark at her pre-termination (Skelly) hearing on Wednesday morning, July 1, to quash the retaliatory termination.

Source
California Nurses Association