As nurses at the Poconos' largest hospital approved a last-minute deal to avoid a strike, two state reports are revealing staffing issues that left some employees "overwhelmed" and "in tears."
A spokesman for Pocono Medical Center insisted that patient safety was never at risk though.
Roughly 500 PMC nurses have threatened to strike over staffing levels and patient safety concerns.
Thursday, nurses voted on a deal to avoid a walk-out beginning Sunday. The nurses union JNESCO, announced the results of the voting on its website late Thursday. Union representatives did not returns calls for comment Thursday.
Meantime, a pair of reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Health is revealing just how serious those staffing concerns were.
After several employees complained, DOH inspectors showed up at the hospital unannounced on August 20 and 21. Regulators found Pocono Medical Center did not have adequate staffing in its emergency department and its cardiovascular telemetry (CVT) unit. Regulators said one employee felt "overwhelmed and was not able to safely care for the patients." Another "confirmed feeling nervous about completing their assignment due to the increased acuity needs of the patients."
Medical staffers told state inspectors there were sometimes 10 patients for every one medical worker. Employees said they sometimes had to give up dinner and even bathroom breaks to keep up with the patient load. One worker told inspectors "there were many days the staff was crying."
Hospital spokesman Geoffrey Roche acknowledged staffing issues, but insisted that patient safety was never at risk. He said PMC has since restructured and filled several open positions, but in a second unannounced visit in November, DOH found staffing levels still weren't adequate. They recommended placing PMC under what's called "immediate jeopardy," a federal classification that could put Medicare Medicaid funds at risk. Roche noted that the Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services never actually designated the hospital as "immediate jeopardy."
The state health department now says that Pocono Medical Center is in compliance.
Neither the hospital nor JNESO, the nurses' union, would speak on camera about the state reports. Both sides agreed not to make any public statements Thursday while nurses voted on the new contract deal.
This report was updated Thursday evening, after contract vote results were released by the union.
The new contract will take effect Sunday and run through January 31, 2018.
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