CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A group of local healthcare workers came together Thursday night to express their concern over what they say is a proposed staffing change that they would leave nurses stretched thin.
The rally took place in front of Doctor's Regional Corpus Christi Medical Center on South Alameda.
It was organized by registered nurses who are part of the union called National Nurses United.
The group tells 3News, that the hospital is imposing a new staffing pattern that would increase the nurse to patient ratio. They say the change would assign one nurse to care for up to 10 patients.
They say that is nearly double their current requirement.
"I know if I were to go into the hospital as a patient, I would not want my nurse to have 9 other patients, things come up emergencies, so if your nurse were busy with an emergency, it's just a safety issue," said Corpus Christi RN Kim Smith.
In a statement to 3 News, C.C.M.C. said quote,
"We are proud of our frontline staff for all they do to provide hope and healing. Corpus Christi Medical Center was recently recognized by three national quality and safety organizations. We are disappointed by the false claims made regarding unsafe staffing by the National Nurses United. Our staffing is appropriate and reflects our patient volume and needs. Corpus Christi Medical Center has been providing high quality care in the communities we serve for decades and honored for quality and safety by the Leapfrog Group, Health grades and the American Heart Association. We are proud of the care we provide all patients."
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