In this newsletter:

• Home and Community Meeting Monday Evening 8/10
• Staffing, Breaks, Rest Periods and ADOs
• Local Unit election coming soon
• Be careful with HIPAA

Home and Community Meeting - HYBRID Meeting

Join us this Monday Night from 7-8 pm for a WSNA Home and Community RN meeting. We will go over new contract language that empowers Home and Community Nurses to advocate for ourselves. We will discuss new committees and productivity and staffing issues that affect all nurses in PeaceHealth Home and Community: Home Health, Home Hospice, and Hospice House. We will have a question-and-concern period to hear from you. This is an opportunity for you to get involved and be heard.

Where: PeaceHealth Southwest Hospital HEC Building
Inside the HEC, follow the WSNA signs to the room. Room TBD Monday

Time: Starts at 7 pm, room opens at 6:45

ONLINE: Teams Meeting Invitation

Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/286545425152145?p=7GNiKMPHJMlU5krv5d

Dial in by phone
+1 206-485-2614,,942997546# United States, Seattle

Agenda:

• Introductions
• Home and Community - New contract language 
• Home and Community - Conference Committee
• Home Health and Home Hospice Productivity
• Hospice House Staffing
• Home and Community - Ambulatory Staffing Committee & ADOs
• Question and Answer

Staffing, Breaks, Rest Periods and ADOs

We had some significant wins in bargaining, not the least of which was securing break nurses in our contract. We know this isn’t perfect, and some parts of the bargaining unit are having more trouble than others. We are actively working to ensure all nurses have coverage to get their required meal and rest periods. We have a few major concerns.

• Break nurses are supposed to be there for breaks, not for multiple other roles or to cover many nurses' breaks all at once. Each unit has a staffing matrix. If the matrix states you have 1 nurse for every 4 patients, when that nurse leaves the floor for any reason, another nurse needs to step in and maintain that matrix level. Break Buddies typically mean one nurse now has two sets of patients, which violates the matrix. Please fill out an ADO in this case. Make sure to note that you are out of matrix. Staffing plans should be posted in every department.

• Paper break sheets are not break nurses. Let WSNA know if you are pressured to sign anything and you did not receive a break. Email BPercival@wsna.org if you are in this position. Accurately clock your meal and rest periods. If you are told to take a break at 11 pm and cannot, and you actually take it at 1 am, make sure to accurately clock your break. You deserve help getting breaks, and we have seen nurses investigated for timecard fraud even though the pressure came from management. It is against the law for an employer to pressure nurses to state they received meal or rest periods if they did not.

• We do not feel we are getting accurate information on missed breaks. Fill out ADOs when you miss meal and rest periods. WSNA has been told by the employer that they cannot get us your missed meal and rest period information from your actual clocking data. We have a hard time understanding this and are looking into it right now. Help us out and fill out ADOs so missed meal and rest periods are not brushed under the carpet.

We want to hear from you. If you have trouble with Meal and Rest Periods, or if your department has found a great system, let us know. We want to know the good and the bad, and we will work hard to look for solutions. Help us be part of the solution. Email: BPercival@wsna.org, and Bret will get the information to the officers, stewards, and staffing committee.

Fill out an ADO here: https://www.wsna.org/union/ado

Local Unit Election Coming Soon

Local Unit Elections are being finalized. We will use the same online voting platform, ElectionBuddy, as we did for your contract ratification vote. It is imperative that we have your correct information, as each member will receive a ballot sent directly to the personal email address on file. Each member will receive one ballot, so links cannot be shared. Please update your membership information here if anything has changed:

https://www.wsna.org/membership/update-info

To vote, you must be a dues-paying WSNA member in good standing. If you are not, you can join here:

https://wsnaonlineapplicationportalwsnaprod.powerappsportals.com/

Be careful with HIPAA

Don’t let your guard down when dealing with patient information. The employer tracks everything you do on computers and in your charting. It will be known if you “hover” over patients that you are not caring for in EPIC and reveal private information. Unless you are confident you have a need to know, be careful about which information you access. Check with management if you have questions. WSNA agrees HIPAA is serious and we do not condone violations. WSNA will always maintain that progressive discipline and Just Cause must be part of any disciplinary process. If called in for an investigatory meeting, remember that you can, and should, ask for union representation.

Questions or concerns? Email Nurse Representative Bret Percival, RN, at BPercival@wsna.org.