kudos to the nurses! make it an every other day walk out!

Ratios are disappearing due to budgets and healthcare changes. Lord knows the full extent of what will happen once universal healthcare is in full effect!!!!!

Nurses wouldn't organize a mass walkout, sacrificing the needs of patients and risking their jobs for a stunt if something weren't really wrong.

The counter reaction from the medical industry officials is the same typical and ingrained response of the medical culture: protect image first over patient safety. Image is priority over reality. Same reason why rates of medical mistakes and infections have not improved over the last 10 years: they don't have to as long as the problem is defined as image, and image can be managed with spin.

I just want to let everybody know that these nurses are far from wonderful and generous.Their patient ratio is one of the lowest in the country 4 to 1. Their starting wages are the one of the highest in the nation. If they were so concerned about patient care today why were they stopping sick people from entering the ER. The strikers were banging on peoples cars, and delivery trucks and sticking their arms into open windows. Some were even pushing their children in strollers out in front of vehicles in order to stop them. Everybody who crossed the picket line had their photo taken and it is being published on the internet. Are these the type of people you want to take care of you? I have worked in the hospital industry for 25 years, I would never try to stop a sick person and their family from trying to get medical aid ever. I would get a wheel chair and bring them where they needed to go. No matter what. I grew up union and still support unions but this union is no longer affiliated with the national one and has lost alot of the money of it members. So how can they make that up? This information is true and has been given by people very close to the situation. I would like the new media to investigate this union and the claims made by what I consider to be a very greedy uncaring bunch of nurses. To answer the question why they would risk their jobs because they are greedy and lazy.

This is a serious problem nation wide which is bound to only get worse as time moves forward. My wife is a nurse in a hospital in Portland, Oregon. She works her butt off and says that her constant requests for more help (increased staffing) fall on deaf ears as hospital management gets pay increases based on the level of staffing (the fewer nurses the better). On a sidenote, she's in a critical care unit so these patient require a ton of attention and emergency assistance frequently. There are nights when she's working twelve-hour shifts where she doesn't sit down to do her required paperwork and data entry work until AFTER her twelve hours are up. That being said, you can't find a more generous and honest bunch of people as the nurses that I've met that work there so I don't doubt that there is a problem in Minnesota. Do they get paid well? yep. Do they earn every last cent? you bet. As the baby boomers start to fill up the hospitals, you watch. This problem will become paramount. I won't be surprised if nursing strikes start to become common place. Until these hospitals wise up, they're going to have a big problem on their hands.

Lets take a look at some facts. Fact MN is ranked number 3 in patient care. Fact nurses in the twin cities average 4 patients a shift. Fact nurses often have assistance (PCA's, CNA's etc). Fact the ending contract that the nurses had covers in detail staffing ratios. In addition, every hospital has detailed staffing policies regarding staffing. Fact the nurses retirement is funded entirely by the company the nurses do NOT have to contribute. Fact - they do not lose their pension if they move to another hospital. Fact - hospitals are very aware of patient safety why do you think JAECO exists, DHS and other programs. Fact - hospitals are a business. Fact - nursing is a job. Fact - nurses in the twin cities have a higher starting pay than the majority of nurses in the nation. Fact - the nursing shortage is becoming a myth. Fact the union that is leading these nurses are not telling them the whole truth and have actually told the nurses that they would be working the next day. Fact the hospital hired nurses from outside sources for patient care and those outside sources required a certain number of hours and/or days for their staff. Fact the average nurse in the twin cities make $38.00 an hour.

Nurses as a whole are good people. They know what they are getting into when they went into nursing. Yes they work hard as do the thousands of other people in the hospitals who all help it run. The hospitals are regulated on every level and have budgets set up for each department. Payroll is the primary factor in those budgets. If the nurses feel that they can't handle 4 patients a shift or feel they are not compensated enough for what they do find a different job. With the surplus of nurses across the nation I'm sure the twin cities would not have a problem finding replacement. Twin Cities nurses is this really about staffing ratios when the guidelines for you are spelled out? I've read comments about being on beck and call from the hospital - well you do get oncall pay which is more than minimum wage and if you are on call you also get a bonus if you are called in. If you don't want to be on call, don't sign up for it. If you get called don't answer the phone or say no to the shift. YOU HAVE OPTIONS TO SAY NO TO A SHIFT. Every nurse hired knows exactly how many hours a pay period they are hired to work. They are not shorted hours as long as the unit has patients. This whole strike is turning into a greed fest by the nurses and the union.