Tri-City nurses speak out on staffing

Nurses gathered Wednesday morning outside Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside to call for better staffing as the public hospital, reeling from cost increases, struggles to regain its financial health.

The facility's most-recent financial update states Tri-City had nearly $100 million in accounts payable, a figure that has caused some creditors to sue, seeking to get past invoices paid.

Bedside workers, especially registered nurses, say that, despite a recent surge in hiring, staffing remains anemic.

A lack of staffing, said nurse Ingrid Corona, has caused nurses to miss their breaks but also, she added, has forced the hospital to leave beds empty in her unit, causing overflow elsewhere.

"You have long waits in the ER; last week, I had several patients who said they waited 24 hours," Corona said. "We don't have the staff to bring them up, or, sometimes, they will put us out of (nursing ratio) to move patients out of the ED."

State law mandates one nurse for every four patients admitted to her telemetry unit, a specialty ward that includes continuous vital sign monitoring. The squeeze, she added, has tightened as the hospital has cut back on the number of nurses' aides it assigns to units, forcing registered nurses to do work that they used to be able to delegate.

Dr. Gene Ma, Tri-City's chief executive officer, called Wednesday's comments "completely inaccurate," including a reported vote of no confidence in management that he said in an email was "again misrepresented."

Whether and to what extent the staffing situation has affected patient care is an open question. State hospital investigation records for Tri-City show increased numbers of patient complaints in 2023, but the vast majority have been deemed unsubstantiated or substantiated but with no correction needed on the hospital's behalf. Nurses who spoke out Wednesday likewise said that care quality has generally been maintained.

"The patients get all the medications, they get the care, is it in the most timely manner that we're used to? Not always, but we do bend over backwards for every patient," Corona said.

Dagmara Kolasa, who said she works in Tri-City's "forensic" unit that cares for incarcerated patients, said she to believes that care remains adequate, but meeting standards with inadequate staffing is unsustainable.

"Even though we're very flexible, and we take a lot of pride in that, it's becoming very heavy and stressful on us," she said. "We will still do our best, and we will still provide amazing care, but it's just becoming very stressful."

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .