Nurses on the Picket Line: Crisis at San Bernardino’s Dignity Health Community Hospital Over Unsafe Staffing

Registered nurses at Dignity Health Community Hospital in San Bernardino are set to hold an informational picket on Thursday, March 28, to highlight their concerns over unsafe staffing levels that they say are compromising patient safety. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) announced the action, stating that the hospital administration has failed to meet its own staffing standards.

Nurses have raised their concerns in meetings with the hospital’s chief nursing officer, but they claim that management has consistently failed to adhere to safe staffing standards. This lack of support has reportedly led to delays in care, patients developing pressure sores, and increased workplace violence.

“Community Hospital is continually short-staffed, putting patients’ safety at risk and forcing nurses to work in unsafe conditions,” said Virginia Licerio, RN in the post-partum unit. “Community Hospital is accepting more patients than it can safely take care of. It’s time Dignity Health invests in staffing and prioritizes safe patient care.”

The informational picket is scheduled to take place from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at Dignity Health Community Hospital, located at 1805 Medical Center Dr., San Bernardino.

Lidya Sihotang, RN in the neurological care unit, echoed the need for improved conditions. “Our community deserves better than Dignity’s unsafe practices,” she said. “A health care corporation as well-resourced as Dignity Health should provide top-of-the-line patient care. Instead, you will find nurses stretched to their limits with inadequate resources. We call on Dignity Health to listen to our demands for increased safety standards and protect the patients and the nurses who take care of them. Dignity Health can do better.”

CNA represents more than 450 nurses at Dignity Health Community Hospital. The nurses’ union is calling for immediate action to address their concerns and ensure a safe environment for both patients and healthcare workers.