Nurses Union Says State Watchdog Does Not Adequately Investigate Staffing Crisis

University of California nurses rally outside the California Department of Public Health on March 19 to highlight patient safety concerns. Photo courtesy the California Nurses Association.

Pediatric nurses at the UC Davis Medical Center say they are in the midst of a staffing crisis, a claim the health system flatly denies. Nurses at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center report severe overcrowding and patients sometimes placed in hallways in the emergency department for days, which UCLA says it has received waivers from the state to allow.

Neither concern has been addressed to nurses’ satisfaction at the local level. That’s not uncommon; it’s one reason they’re represented by a union. But when the union and the hospitals still can’t agree on the issues, the cases escalate to the state level.