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SEND THIS POOR WOMAN A DECK OF CARDS
(Image courtesy of Laura Gasparis Vonfrolio)
Washington State Senator Maureen Walsh made quite a splash on April 16, 2019, when she argued that critical access hospitals should be exempt from Bill SHB 1155. The Bill would ensure break and overtime protection for all nurses. Her reasoning? “I would submit to you that those (small hospital) nurses probably do get breaks. They probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day.” Obviously, this elected official needs to be educated, and I am sure the nursing community will rise to the occasion as they did with the “doctor’s stethoscope” comment made by Joy Behar in 2015.
Senator Walsh might mistakenly believe that smaller hospitals are less busy than larger ones, or that the nurses in smaller facilities have fewer responsibilities than their counterparts in major medical centers. Let’s educate her on that. Smaller hospitals are less likely to have house staff. While nurses in the major medical centers have 24/7 access to interns and residents if there is a problem with a patient, nurses in the smaller hospitals must be independent and speak directly to an attending physician who might or might not be happy to get a call in the middle of the night. They are on their own. Nurses in major medical centers are more likely to have access to diagnostic equipment and specialized personnel, whereas nurses in smaller facilities must rely on their own assessment skills.
Senator Walsh might also mistakenly believe that the patients in smaller hospitals require less care than those in larger ones. Let’s disabuse her of that idea as well. I have worked in both large and small hospitals and have considerable experience in Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers. The first ED I worked in was Detroit Receiving Hospital at a time when that ER averaged 400 patient visits a day. We saw multiple gunshot wounds, knife wounds, motor vehicle accidents, and assembly plant accidents. Lots of gory trauma there. Yet, I was not exposed to the most gruesome injuries in the big city major medical centers, but in a 62-bed rural Texas hospital.
If Senator Walsh thinks only the large hospitals see complex trauma, she should visit those smaller hospitals in farming communities. I would invite her to see what agricultural injuries look like. And I would suggest she spend a day with a small hospital nurse tending to those injuries without the same resources to which nurses in large hospitals have access.
Senator Walsh might believe that nurses in smaller hospitals have control over what comes through their doors. She would be wrong. Women in active labor show up in those small hospitals, even when obstetric services are not offered. Children show up in those small hospitals even when pediatrics is not available. Head injuries appear when there is no neurology department. Patients requiring CT scans, MRIs, etc. come to facilities without those diagnostic tools. Who does Senator Walsh think is responsible for assessing, and stabilizing these sick and injured people? Who does she think obtains needed assistance and arranges transport to higher levels of care? And maintains responsibility until that occurs?
Nurses in smaller hospitals do not require breaks or overtime protection less than nurses in larger facilities. During my nursing career, I worked in about 40 hospitals in 10 different states. I worked in ORs, ERs, ICUs, hyperbaric units and burn units. I never saw nurses playing cards. I did see clinical errors because nurses were too exhausted to safely practice. I even made one myself and it almost cost the life of my patient. It still haunts me.
Senator Walsh can make a mistake (as she has here). People are angry, but no one is hurt. On the other hand, if I make a mistake as a nurse, someone can die. Patient safety requires vigilance and a level of alertness that cannot exist unless bills like SHB 1155 are passed. As an elected official, Senator Walsh needs to educate herself before making these kinds of statements. The fact that she didn’t take the time to do so suggests that she, rather than the nurses to whom she refers, probably does get breaks. And possibly she is the one who has time to play cards for a considerable amount of the day. For every nurse who has ever worked when he or she was too tired to safely do so, here is Senator Walsh’s address. Let’s all send this poor woman a deck of cards.
Senator Maureen Walsh
504 15th Avenue SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
Lauren Hamer, You Won’t Believe all the Crazy Perks Members of Congress Get for Free (At the Taxpayers Expense), Money & Career CheatSheet, 4/17/18 https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/perks-members-of-congress-get-for-free-at-the-taxpayers-expense.html/
Shane Savitsky, The Perks of Being a Member of Congress, AXIOS, 11/28/17
https://www.axios.com/the-perks-of-being-a-member-of-congress-1513307200-ba8cb415-27c0-4ee9-ac1f-f445d175bf68.html
Angelina Walker, [video] Senator Remarks Go Viral: Nurses “Play Cards for a Considerable Amount of the Day”, Nurse.org, 4/19/19 https://nurse.org/articles/senator-maureen-walsh-nurses-play-cards/
Washington State Legislature, HB 1155-2019-20, https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1155&Year=2019&Initiative=false |
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