ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) members will provide important perspective regarding allegations of unsafe patient care at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis, during testimony at the Joint Health and Human Services Budget Division, Health and Family Security Committee, and Agriculture, Veterans and Gaming Committee meeting on Wednesday, September 21 from 1 - 4 pm. Chairs of the committees, Senators Linda Berglin, Becky Lourey and Jim Vickerman called for testimony after a state inspection last month revealed numerous problems in patient care at the facility.
Maria Ockenfels, RN a Registered Nurse and former Director of Quality Management at the Minneapolis Veterans Home, left her position in frustration on March 18, 2005, after offering several warnings regarding policies advanced by Veterans Home administrators. Ockenfels describes many troubling scenarios, including a medication error in which a resident received 100 times the dose he should have received. She attributes much of the issues arising from policies that required nurses to routinely work 16 hour days, causing fatigue and low morale. "These problems have resulted in a nurse staffing crisis and serious concerns around quality resident care," said Ockenfels.
Margaret Skoy, RN denounces habitual denial demonstrated by the Veterans Home Administration. "As a former bargaining unit chair with 15 years' experience as an RN, I can honestly say that our former administration, as well as the staff at the Veterans Home Board, were made aware of the problems we faced regarding chronic short staffing, low morale and our concerns about quality patient care well before it was in the media."
MNA Executive Director, Erin Murphy, RN will address larger, systemic problems in her testimony. "The Minnesota Nurses Association has been pressing these issues at the bargaining table with the Department of Employee Relations in the last several contract negotiations. Unfortunately, rather than agreeing to pay competitive wages to our nurses, the current administration has resorted to using mandatory overtime as a routine scheduling option for short staffing problems and to rely on the use of pool nurses, who have less training and are paid at higher rates than the staff nurses," said Murphy. She points to study after study that documents the use of mandatory overtime as a solution to nurse staffing pushes nurses beyond their capacity to work safely and provide appropriate, quality care to patients.
Celebrating a 100 Year Legacy of Caring, 1905 - 2005. With more than 18,000 members, MNA is the leading organization for registered nurses in the Midwest and is among the oldest and largest representatives of RNs for collective bargaining in the nation. Established in 1905, MNA is a multi- purpose organization that fosters high standards for nursing education and practice, and works to advance the profession through legislative activity. MNA is a constituent member of the American Nurses Association and it's labor arm, the United American Nurses.
Minnesota Nurses AssociationCONTACT: Jan Rabbers of Minnesota Nurses Association, +1-651-646-4807 or+1-800-536-4662, ext. 161
