Providence St. Peter Hospital lambasted for not stepping up to solve the healthcare crisis

Six nurses from the Providence St. Peter Hospital have taken the public comment avenue to inform the community of the current condition of the health institution, which they claimed "is in great crisis and has dangerous staffing level" that affects providing care to patients.

At the city council meeting held Tuesday, December 13, these nurses criticized the Providence leadership for not stepping up in seeking a solution to the crisis.

They asked the councilmembers to issue a resolution supporting all healthcare workers and support the safe and staffing legislation to be introduced next year.

Dramatic change

Melanie Oakes, who has worked at the hospital's emergency department for five years, said she had seen a dramatic change in how the Providence St. Peter's Hospital provides care to patients since 2018.

She said the hospital is frequently over capacity, meaning there are not enough rooms for admitted patients.

Oakes commented that the current situation is far from the scenario before 2018, where most patients would be immediately seen and treated by a doctor in the emergency department. They would move upstairs shortly if they needed to stay in the hospital.

But today, Oakes said, the patient may have to wait an hour or two to see a doctor, go through triage, and start the testing process. The patient would have to wait for results and treatment for several hours in the lobby.

According to Oakes, a patient who needs to be admitted cannot get a room quickly as the hospital rarely has open rooms and needs more nurses to staff those rooms.

"Admitted patients frequently wait hours in the lobby before going to a stretcher in the hall. It would take them a couple of days before they had the opportunity to get an actual hospital bedroom upstairs," Oakes said.

The nurse added that most patients going to the emergency room, which has 40 beds, are seen and treated in the lobby because of a lack of space and resources.

"This crisis affects every one of us. It means longer waits to be seen at the ER and fewer staff to care for you and your family while you wait. It means when you're sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, you might spend the first several hours of your admission in the lobby," Oakes told the councilmembers.

Nurse Grace agreed with Oakes, saying that emergency care is done in either shared rooms or the hallway.

"On bad days, patients with incontinence are changed in the hallway because no private rooms are available. I cannot adequately describe the demoralization that results from seeing staff unable to provide even basic dignity to patients entrusted to our care," Grace said.

"To Providence, the important thing is these patients pay the same rates for hospital care as anyone else. Dignity is not part of their equation," Grace alleged.

She appealed to councilmembers to issue a supporting resolution for the nurses. "We also need your open and public support for the safe staffing legislation being introduced next session. Without it, things will get even worse."

Staff crisis, nurses burnt out

Helena Smith, who has worked at the Providence St. Peter's Hospital for 28 years, noted that the hospital started losing staff since the COVID pandemic. But the rate of staff leaving has accelerated recently.

"Our staffing levels have continued to decrease. We are inadequately and unsafely staffed," Smith said, adding that several units in the hospital are five to six staff short-staffed per shift.

Smith warned that this scenario directly impacts patient care and outcomes.

"At times, I don't have a single break during my 12-hour shift because there is no one to cover or take over for me, even for 15 minutes," Smith recounted.

She asked the councilmembers to help or influence Providence to take immediate action to correct the staffing shortage. "We are drowning, and the organization has been too slow to take effective action."

Kathleen Scott, who has been working at the hospital for almost two decades, said leaders of the health institution had not sought a resolution to the crisis.

"I am being assigned five, six, and possibly seven patients throughout a 12-hour shift without ancillary staff, such as a CNA (certified nursing assistant), to assist me in taking care of our patient's needs."

Olympia to look into situation

Councilmember Jim Cooper said he, Clark Gilman, and councilmember Lisa Parshley would look into Providence with union leaders to "get the full story, bring back a resolution on healthcare support for the city council, and form an opinion on the legislation."

They hope to dialogue with Providence and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

In 2018 and 2019, Gilman said he was visiting with staff at the hospital to discuss the same issue. "This has been several years of a systematic structural change in how staffing is happening, how positions are assigned. It's not working."

Providence is a private corporation, but Gilman expressed interest in a conversation with the health institution to see how the hospital management intends to correct the low capacity.

"It is exasperating that this goes back years rather than being an outcome of the pandemic. And now you're in an especially tough spot," Gilman told the nurses.

Parshley told the councilmembers that the legislation has to go through, or "our healthcare in our communities are going to suffer tremendously, not just in Olympia, but across the state," referring to House Bill 1868, which aims to improve worker safety and patient care in healthcare facilities by addressing staffing needs, overtime, meal, and rest breaks.