KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Registered nurses from Research Medical Center protested Friday night in front of their hospital in hopes the administration will add and retain more nurses.
Research Medical Center administrators issued a statement that patient care is the top priority, and additional nurses are being hired to replace nurses who are leaving to work at other hospitals, retiring, or going to work for corporations.
The protesting nurses said increasing wages and giving nurses a portion of the tax break the hospital received from President Trump would help retain nurses
Nurses from Menorah Medical Center are attending the rally to support the nurses at Research Medical Center. Representatives from the Kansas City Firefighters Union also came to show their support
Research Medical Center sent the following statement to 41 Action News:
Research Medical Center is very proud of our nurses and the culture we’ve developed at our hospital which is based upon open communication, and high-quality care we provide.
We continue to earn national honors for quality and safe patient care. For example, in 2017, Research Medical Center earned Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke Centers; The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval®; and the State of Missouri’s Level I Time Critical Diagnosis Stroke Center, providing definitive care to high volumes of stroke patients within the region. Additionally, last month Research earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Sepsis Program Certification, the first and only hospital in the State of Missouri.
The honors and accreditations are in direct correlation to the dedication of Research Medical Center’s caring and highly skilled nurses, support staff, physicians and the high quality of care we provide.
National Nurses Organizing Committee has criticized Research Medical Center for employee turnover, but this labor union has failed to acknowledge that Research now has almost 40 more full and part-time nurses than were employed at the start of the year, and that does not include the 55 new graduate nurses that will begin their orientation in June and July as part of our nationally recognized “StaRN” training program. The “StaRN” training program maintains a 99% retention rate. Furthermore, our most recent 2018 nurse employee engagement scores increased 17% year over year, further indicating that Research Medical Center nurses are motivated and driven to provide the very best care in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
It is unfortunate, but not unusual, to see tactics like this when a union and an employer are engaged in contract negotiations, as we are with this union. We want to ensure that our community understands that neither this—nor any other action—will ever come between us and our commitment to the high-quality care and services we offer our patients and this community on a daily basis.
