An arbitrator ordered Mount Sinai Hospital to pay $240,000 for short staffing in one of its oncology units, Mount Sinai West to pay $957,000 for low staffing in labor and delivery, and Mount Sinai Morningside to pay nearly $934,000 for short staffing in the emergency room. The hospitals are required to pay the fines to nurses who worked in understaffed settings.
The recent arbitrations mark the eighth time that Mount Sinai Health System was ordered to pay fines for violating staffing ratios in nurse contracts. Mount Sinai has racked up more than $3 million in penalties so far, according to the union.
Despite these penalties, hospitals have continued to understaff units. The recent violation at Morningside, which was cited on Feb. 2, follows a $37,000 fine that the hospital incurred in June. The arbitrator found that staffing practices have not improved and the hospital has not hired enough new nurses in the last six months. Morningside hired five additional emergency room nurses since the first violation — short of the 14 nurses a month that the hospital needs to hire to get up to speed, said Sheryl Ostroff, a registered nurse who has worked in the ED at the hospital for 21 years.
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During some night shifts, ER nurses at Mount Sinai Morningside could be assigned anywhere between 15 to 20 patients, Ostroff said. Ideally, nurses in the emergency department should be assigned four to six patients, she added.
“We probably function at 60% of our staff, every shift,” Ostroff told Crain’s, adding that one nurse is responsible for the jobs of three or four people because of staffing issues.
Stacy Anderson, a spokeswoman for Mount Sinai Health System, said that "hospitals everywhere have grappled with nursing and other healthcare worker shortages.”
“We are confident that Mount Sinai is appropriately resourced to provide excellent care as we continue to recruit top caregiver talent and maintain the highest standards of clinical quality for our patients,” the spokesperson said.
The union said that public hospital system New York City Health + Hospitals has hired 600 additional nursing staff since reaching a contract with NYSNA in July of this year, proving that it is possible to recruit and retain nurses.
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Ostroff said that while staffing challenges persist, the union will continue to track staff shortages and draw attention to the impacts on patient care.
“I understand that this is going to take time to fix, but at least this is a way for us to say ‘Hey, this is a win,’” Ostroff said. “All we really want is safe staffing.”
This story first appeared in Crain's New York Business.
