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Emergency room nurses in Michigan were told to leave their hospital late Sunday after refusing to see patients for hours, claiming the facility was dangerously understaffed and running low on personal protective equipment (PPE) for its healthcare workers amid the coronavirus public health crisis.
A group of six nurses scheduled to work the night shift in the emergency room at Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace Hospital said they reported to work on time but staged a sit-in in their break room in response to an "unsafe patient load."
After a four-hour standoff pleading with hospital management to bring in more nurses for the night shift, administrators told the small group of ER nurses to “get to work or get out,” the nurses claim.
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ER nurse Sal Hadwan began a Facebook Live from outside the hospital shortly before midnight that showed him and his five colleagues walking toward the parking garage.
“Sinai-Grace is like the epicenter of this coronavirus,” Hadwan said. “We’ve had three straight weeks of over 110 patients and an average of 12 to 14 nurses. At night, that drops down to about eight nurses. We’ve been accepting that and working hard. But tonight was the breaking point.
Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace Hospital
“Because we cannot safely take care of your loved ones out here, with just six, seven nurses and multiple [ventilators], multiple drips,” he continued. "We had two nurses the other day who had 26 patients with 10 ventilators. Two nurses. Twenty-six patients and 10 ventilators and nobody was out here to help. It's not acceptable."
“Unacceptable!” another nurse chimed in from the background. “We want the public to know we’re fighting for y’all and y’alls loved ones.”
Other doctors and nurses at Sinai-Grace who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the sit-in and walkout to Fox 2 in Detroit. The hospital said dayside nurses who had started their shifts at 7 a.m. were forced to work overtime through the night after the ER nurses refused to work and eventually left.
"We know this is a very challenging time for caregivers. Our doctors and nurses continue to demonstrate their commitment and dedication to our patients,” Detroit Medical Center spokesperson Brian Taylor said in an emailed statement to Michigan Radio.
“We are disappointed that last night a very small number of nurses at Sinai Grace Hospital staged a work stoppage in the hospital refusing to care for patients. Despite this, our patients continued to receive the care they needed as other dedicated nurses stepped in to provide care,” he said.
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"High patient volume is creating an increased need for staffing, especially nurses,” a hospital spokesperson told Fox 2 in a separate statement. “The DMC is using a variety of resources to help to supplement nursing staff including contracting with staffing agencies to secure more nurses and reaching out to colleges and universities to recruit nursing students who are close to graduation to assist in providing care to our patients, in accordance with state guidance."
Michigan ranked third in the nationwide tally of coronavirus infections and deaths, recording at least 18,970 confirmed cases, with at least 845 deaths by Wednesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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