NYSNA Members at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Push Back on Unlawful Staffing Changes

Just over a month ago, NYSNA nurses and healthcare professionals at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) were caught off guard when management proposed changes to staffing ratios in four medical surgical units at the hospital. The proposed changes were not in line with New York’s safe staffing law, and the clinical staffing committee pushed back on the changes, offering a counterproposal that prioritized patient safety over hospital profits. By law, the hospital is required to work with the members of the clinical staffing committee to determine appropriate ratios for each unit in the hospital. Instead of working with the staffing committee to find a middle ground, management disregarded the counterproposal and unilaterally changed staffing standards in the four units, thereby putting patient care at risk and violating New York’s safe staffing law, as well as NYSNA members’ contract.  

Recognizing the risks these changes posed to their community, NSYNA members jumped into action. On Wednesday, May 21, NYSNA members at CVPH spoke out to demand that management reverse the ratio changes and staff the hospital safely. 

NYSNA member Samantha Kalman, RN, BSN, said, “Management refuses to listen to nurses and take safe patient care seriously. Instead, they are trying to manipulate numbers to avoid accountability. The consolidation of our hospital into UVM’s larger system means it's often hard to get administrators to respond to concerns that affect quality care for patients. We’re here because we need management to listen and hire more nurses.”

Fox 44, NBC 5, and WCAX3, covered the speak-out.

Energized by the positive response to their speak-out, NYSNA members will continue to push back against these unlawful changes at CVPH. As frontline caregivers, nurses are the experts in patient care and should have been consulted before changes were made to staffing ratios. Nurses’ priority is ensuring their community has access to safe, quality patient care, and they won’t stop fighting until their patients do!