When more than 4,000 Minneapolis-based Allina healthcare nurses went on strike Sunday, the news made national headlines. Fortunately for their patients, 1,400 Travel Nurses stepped in as replacements during the planned week-long strike. Unlike the 2010 Allina strike, where 12,000 nurses walked out of 14 different hospitals, this strike affects only five area hospitals in the Twin Cities area. Although this strike is on a significantly smaller scale, it can still place a burden on hospitals and their patients.
There are many reasons why a nurse strike like this one can happen. Some factors could include health insurance costs or nurse/patient safety issues. Whatever the reason, nurse strikes may be costly, stressful, and possibly interfere with patient care. However, this doesn’t always have to be the case. If your hospital is ever faced with a labor dispute from your nurses’ union, you can rely on Nurse Bridge to help find qualified replacement nurses during a strike.
Nurse Bridge, Medical Solution’s strike division, has been supporting hospitals and healthcare systems with replacement workers since 1998. In fact, Nurse Bridge recently sent approximately 500 nurses to the Allina strike last week. Nurse Bridge takes away all the stress of finding replacement staff for you. They can help you do the following:
- Recruit replacement staff from their national database
- Manage the screening process
- Coordinate the transportation and scheduling of temporary workers
- Provide quality control by reviewing assignments, patient insight, and worker fatigue levels during the strike
As a hospital administrator, you never want to sacrifice quality patient care during a labor dispute. While we hope you never experience a strike at your hospital, Nurse Bridge can offer you a seamless transition with a replacement staff. Want to know what hospitals think about Nurse Bridge? You can read their testimonials here.
Has your hospital staff ever gone on strike? If so, what steps did you take to ensure your patients received adequate care?