Current Event in the Bay Area. Nurses on Strike.

All over the Bay Area, many nurses are striking for the need of patients. Just to mention a couple, Kaiser and Alta Bates, are facing many disagreements with the hospitals and all of the people over them. The hospitals are very shocked that even the nurses they recently hired on a 3-year contract have decided to protest alongside other nurses as a sympathy strike. The nurses gathered together early in the morning to show their care and concerns for the patience. They want to change the ways of management.

One issue that the hospitals are dealing with is the wait for patients to be seen. Many people have said that they had to go through terribly long waits just to be seen to make an appointment. The nurses want all patients to be seen immediately or as soon as possible. Making someone wait too long to be helped is not a good thing to do, but it seems as if the manager s of the hospitals are starting not to care.

Another issue in the hospitals is that many are understaffed because of staffing cuts and retirees’. With all of the nurses leaving, there are any other nurses there to fill their spot leaving the hospitals with fewer staff. This is dangerous because it is causing patients to continue suffering. For every staff cut or retired nurse the hospitals should have immediately replaced them so, that the patients can feel tended and helped.

I cannot say if I agree or disagree because I feel both ways. I respect the nurse protesters 100%, but at the same time, when they decided to protest they should have thought about the patients then. What will happen to the ones who need help while they are all on strike. I do agree with the reason they protested simply because of the care for the patience. I honestly believe that there could have been an alternate, more efficient way for their points to get across because now even more nurses lost their jobs.