Nurses Week Celebration

The officers brought Big Wheezy’s delicious BBQ for the RNs to enjoy for this year’s Nurses Week Celebration. We fed a lot of RNs and relished the solidarity that this bargaining unit has created. The RNs at Sunnyside provide the community, patients, and their co-workers with exceptional care.

Convention

The Washington State Nurses Convention took place May 17-19 at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center!

We had three beautiful days at the Tacoma Convention Center, soaking in the phenomenal speakers, gaining CNEs, enjoying vendors, entertainment, and food. The best was the connections we made with fellow RNs. Astria Toppenish was well represented with Julia Barcott, Clara Bucio, Susie Cervantes, Luz Alvarez, Evette Kendall, Lisa Bullek and Chris Sinkula.

Running for Office

(David) Jacob Garcia David MBA, MSN, BSN, RN, PCCN is a staff RN from the M/S unit. He ran for  Vice Chair of The Cabinet on Economic & General Welfare and as an AFT delagate securing both positions in the election!

“I want to continue and expand the growth of WSNA and lend WSNA my experience and knowledge to help us continue to grow as a profession and as an organization.“

In June 2022 he was elected to the American Nurses Association Board of Directors in the staff nurse position

Jacob was awarded the Joanna Boatman Staff Nurse Leadership Award at Convention for his significant contribution to the advancement of professional development and advancement of the economic and general welfare of nurses.

Nurse Practice Committee

May minutes should be posted on your unit bulletin boards. We met on June 27. Once the minutes are approved, they will be posted.

IBD notification issues- RNs are continuing have difficulties on being notified on the awarding of the shift and if the shift is being awarded by the MOU Eligibility:

All full-time and regular part-time nurses shall be eligible for the Incentive Bonus Days Program (IBD). IBD Program: An Incentive Bonus Days (IBD) shift is an extra shift(s) that a nurse signs up for after the final monthly schedule is posted. All extra IBD shifts will be posted on the final schedule as a "need." Shifts to be filled because of sick leave shall be considered lBD shifts. IBD shifts will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis after the final schedule has been posted for at least twenty-four (24) hours. Requests for IBD shifts must be in writing (dated and timed) and submitted to the department director or designee. Per diem nurses will have the first opportunity to pick up extra shifts before the final schedule is posted. Once the final schedule has been posted, per diems may pick up open shifts but will not be allowed to "bump" regular nurses who have previously signed up for IBD shifts. An IBD shift is paid at double the nurse's applicable rate of pay. Incentive bonus hours will be paid on the nurse's regular payroll check.

Staffing Committee: 

April minutes should be posted on your unit bulletin boards.

• There were no ADOS received for review.
• Travel staff remain in every unit.
•  Discussion was done re overstaffing with travelers and core staff etc.  The CNO reassured us that WSNA contract was being followed and preference for our core staff. Our core staff would be the first to pick up extra shifts over travelers. Offering staff to do HealthStream, ACLS, PALS, policies and/or cross training to other depts instead of placing them on call.  The rotation of call was being followed and special attention was given to pattern and acuity of the dept. and if questions reach out to manager.  Discussion was made regarding Toppenish needing staff and MOU was brought up.  Please refer to WSNA contract MOU Nov 2022 for on call vs working at ATH.
• Mask Mandate- We are now pre Covid, depending on contingency level might require masking.  Nurse judgment on when to wear masks, highly encourage to continue to wear masks when caring for pt with respiratory problems, aerosol procedure etc.
• Next meeting is July 11

Assignment Despite Objection

If you find yourself in a situation that you believe creates unsafe conditions for patients or for you, complete the Staffing Complaint / ADO (Assignment Despite Objection) form as soon as possible.

By completing the form, you are helping to make the problem known to management, which creates an opportunity for the problem to be addressed. Additionally, you are documenting the facts, which may be helpful to you later if there is a negative outcome.

Types of situations where you should complete a Staffing Complaint / ADO form:

• Charge nurse is unable to perform charge nurse duties, secondary to increased patient care assignment.
• Inade­quate nurse to patient ratios for patient acuity based on your clinical judgment.
• Insuf­fi­cient support staff requires you to assume additional duties.
• You are not trained or experi­enced in the area assigned.
• You have not been oriented to this unit / case load.
• Patient care equip­ment missing or unusable
• Neces­sary equip­ment is not avail­able (e.g.: supplies, IVs, medica­tion availability)
• You are not trained or experi­enced to use equip­ment in assigned area.
• System failure (e.g.: computer, phone, pyxis, call system)
• An assign­ment poses a serious threat to your health and safety.
• An assign­ment poses a serious threat to the health and safety of a patient under your direct care.
• Forced / manda­tory overtime.
• Missed breaks

Link for ADO on the back of your RN Badge Buddy - https://www.wsna.org/union/ado.

Investigatory Meetings

If you are notified by you manager that you must attend an investigatory meeting, please invoke your Weingarten Rights (On the other side of your badge buddy) You have the right to have your Grievance Officer (Janice Schell) or your Nurse Representative (Laurie Robinson) to attend. If there is an outcome meeting with any corrective action, a grievance may be filed. This must be done within 30 days of a disciplinary action that is received.

Contract issues

• Two RNs from the ICU filed grievances over the Low Census language in the CBA 6.6 and the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) that details both the wages being aligned with ATH as well as a description of a pilot voluntary float to ATH.

The CBA language describes a low census pathway. A traveling nurse who is employed on a contract basis for a defined period of weeks shall participate in the rotation of low census with other full-time and part-time employees. There was an “out of turn” that forced an ICU RN to be on Low Census over a travel RN and there was no offer for the RN to float to ATH per the MOU. Therefore, the two RNs prevailed and were paid the shifts that they were forced to be on Low Census. In the future, if you are asked to be Low Census, you may ask that you may float to ATH as an option. If you have not been oriented to the facility, this would be a great time to do this on a Low Census day!

• Accrual for vacation, holiday and sick time. We have noticed a discrepancy and have discovered that this all began with Kronos. What we see is that Low Census and On Call hours are not being counted for accrual. This is a past practice issue, and we have filed a grievance.

Wage Increase

We will see a wage increase across the board of 4% on July 1. See the WSNA/ASH webpage for your increase.

For any questions or concerns please contact one of the Officers or Nurse Rep
Lovella Flores- ICU Co-Co Chair
Marisela Aguilar FBC Co-Chair
Lori Rojas- PACU- Secretary
Cheryl Bofman PACU- Membership Officer
OPEN-Treasurer (Let us know if you are interested in this position!)
Janice Schell ED- Grievance Officer

Laurie Robinson Nurse Representative
Cell: 206-620-4136 lrobinson@wsna.org

WSNA Membership: If you are not a WSNA member please consider completing a membership application today! Just click on the link! (This works on a computer easily, or set your smartphone google chrome and the setting to request a desktop site.

YOU ARE WSNA