Central Coast nurses calling for shorter shifts, better staffing in one-day strike

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Thousands of nurses across the state, and on the Central Coast, joined a one-day strike on Friday. Demonstrators called on Tenet Hospitals to provide better hours and staffing.

Sierra Vista Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, and Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton are owned by Tenet. 

“We need more nurses at the bedside," said retired Sierra Vista RN, Sherri Stoddard. 

Stoddard said she worked at Sierra Vista for more than three decades and noticed a need for more staff. 

“There's been a lot more push from the corporate hospital systems to do more and more with less and less.”

“We want to be able to recruit and retain nurses to this area," said Janice Ames, a part-time nurse at Sierra Vista. 

Protesters say they've been negotiating with Tenet for better labor conditions for a year. 

“We feel that negotiations are going slow," said Stoddard.

Ames says they feel overworked.

“[We want] adequate staffing for providing nurses with their meals and rest breaks, and we would also like to see language in our contract that limits the abuse of mandatory overtime and mandatory call," she said.

Ames says working 12-hour shifts is bad for patients, too.

“Studies show that RN fatigue can cause an increase in patient medication errors.”

In a statement sent to our newsroom, a Sierra Vista and Twin Cities spokesman said the hospital is working to find a resolution.

The statement, reads in part:

“We have been negotiating in good faith with the union to reach a new contract. We are disappointed that the union is taking this strike action, which in our view is not constructive or necessary," said Ara Najarian. "We remain focused on our primary mission – providing safe, quality care to our patients.”

Najarian said the strike did not impact patient care at any of Tenet's Central Coast locations.

"Patients and their loved ones can be assured that Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center and Twin Cities Community Hospital are staffed with qualified and experienced replacement nurses as well as all of our other caregivers through the strike’s duration. All currently scheduled elective surgeries are taking place," he said. 

The one-day strike took place at eight Tenet Hospital locations in California.