Dive Brief:
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With more than 2,400 nurses and other healthcare professionals threatening a strike beginning Monday, Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals are spending $10 million for a temporary staffing agency to fill in during the strike.
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Providence-based Lifespan, which runs the hospitals, met with the union, the United Nurses and Allied Professionals, on Tuesday. After not coming to an agreement, employees called a strike for next week.
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A union representative said there are no plans to resume talks with the health system. “Lifespan chose this path by not offering a competitive contract that values the tireless, life-saving efforts our members bring to the bedsides every day. We remain committed to winning an equitable deal, but for now, the strike is on and we are ready to see it through.” The hospital said it wants to provide competitive wages and benefits.
Dive Insight:
The health system said the $10 million to pay temporary staffing will result in a lower contract offer.
”We remain committed to providing all of our employees competitive wages and other important benefits, and we are hopeful that a fair and sustainable agreement can be reached with UNAP soon,” Rhode Island Hospital said in a statement.
UPDATE: Representatives for both UNAP and Lifespan tell me negotiations have ended for today. No deal. No date scheduled to return to negotiation table. Hospital as now paid contract labor agency $10 million as it preps for potential strike. Strike set for Monday at 3. @wpri12 pic.twitter.com/vG5NmAePAa
— Eric Halperin- WPRI (@EricHalperinTV) July 17, 2018
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Hospital strikes aren't common, but benefits and pay are usually the issues. Another frequent concern is burnout, which is often connected to staffing. Sometimes an agreement is reached before a threatened strike goes forward. This could still happen in Rhode Island, but the union appears to be holding firm.
As the $10 million figure shows, strikes are costly. They can also hurt a hospital’s reputation and affect patient safety. Nevertheless, hospitals have faced labor issues over the past year that resulted in strikes and lockouts in Minnesota and Massachusetts.
A study on nurses’ strikes in New York found that labor actions have a temporary negative effect on a hospital’s patient safety. The study found that nurses’ strikes increased in-patient mortality by 18.3% and 30-day readmission by 5.7% for patients admitted during the strike. Patients admitted during a strike also got a lower quality of care.