'It's Clear When People Don't Have Experience'

""It's clear when people don't have experience in a city like New York. For example, the social worker says, "there are certain things that nurses in the intensive-care unit know that should be very normal for ICU nurses to know how to do. But I'll go in to check on a patient, and there are five travel nurses at their bedside just trying to crack the code of how to do this thing.""

""Then there are the administrators milling about the floor, trying to be helpful but getting in the way. "At any given time, there are ten people in suits or white coats standing outside the nursing station being like, 'Let us know how we can support,' the social worker says. "These are people I've never seen before in the hospital.""

Nurses' strike entered its third week, leaving New York City hospitals operating with many hired travel nurses on short, high-pay contracts. Elective surgeries were postponed, yet patient waiting times increased as replacements struggled to meet demand and lacked city-specific ICU experience. Administrators and unfamiliar personnel crowded nursing stations, sometimes hindering workflows. Striking nurses and some staff attempted on-the-job training for temporary reinforcements to protect patient care. Contract negotiations between the New York State Nurses Association and systems including Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian, and Montefiore broke down, prompting reliance on travel staff and raising concerns about degraded care.

Read at Intelligencer