MNA Brigham Nurses Call Mass General Brigham Shuttle Practices During COVID-19 Unsafe for Hospital Staff and Patients
Mass General Brigham management has refused to agree to widely accepted social distancing standards on shuttles
Jun 24, 2020, 08:58 ET
BOSTON, June 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mass General Brigham is operating shuttles for nurses and other staff members at Brigham and Women's Hospital significantly outside widely accepted safe social distancing standards during the COVID-19 pandemic and has refused to implement a 50% capacity limit that would better limit the risk of exposure to nurses and their patients.
Brigham nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association and elected by their 3,400 RN colleagues have brought their concerns about the shuttles to hospital management multiple times. Management has refused to implement the 50% capacity limit and take responsibility for clearly communicating shuttle service availability to Brigham staff.
"Crowded shuttles are completely unnecessary and are placing Brigham nurses at higher risk for COVID-19 exposure while we try to safely care for patients," said Trish Powers, Brigham OR RN and Chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee at the hospital. "The hospital is telling the public it is doing everything to keep patients, families and staff safe but will not even commit to a basic social distancing standard. Nurses jammed into shuttles, crowding each other as they ride across the city, is an avoidable and unacceptable danger to the safety of nurses and patients."
- A review of shuttle services by MNA on June 15, 16 and 17 showed nurses and other staff crowding onto shuttles with all seats or nearly all seats taken and then nearly empty shuttle buses pulling up right afterward.
- Instead of directing BWH nurses to the appropriate shuttles to be able to maintain social distancing, MGB personnel at shuttle sites actually encouraged nurses to stay on crowded shuttles. There is no social distancing standard being enforced and crowding varies widely among shuttles used by Brigham nurses.
- Adhering to social distancing guidelines is a widely accepted safety standard during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- This safety standard could reasonably be attained by MGB.
Read more about MNA nurses and healthcare professionals and COVID-19 at www.massnurses.org/COVID-19.
Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
