Hospital Short-Staffing Delaying Emergency Services, Nurses Say

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Emergency medical services (EMS) workers spend more than half their time waiting in DC hospitals, instead of on the streets where they’re most needed. This startling figure emerged in testimony last week before the DC City Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, where Washington Hospital Center (WHC) nurse Leah Hale (right) testified that EMS wait times in DC hospitals in recent years were 79% longer than the average of other major cities surveyed. Hale, a Ward 5 resident and registered nurse working in the WHC emergency room, said that delays in EMS service are caused by insufficient nurse staffing. “Paramedics, EMTs and fire fighters must wait with patients until hospital staff can care for them, which delays the return of FEMS (fire & emergency medical services) professionals to the streets,” Hale, a NNU member, said. “Multiple studies have shown that inadequate nurse staffing can lead to more patient deaths, complications, medical errors and preventable hospital re-admissions,” said Hale, stressing that adequate nurse staffing can improve EMS response times. “When there are enough nurses to care for patients, FEMS drop times will be shorter. When the Patient Protection Act passes, nurses and FEMS first-responders will be better able to do our jobs and public health will be improved." - photo courtesy NNU