Discussion Post
If you have access to the Washington Post, read the front-page article on Tuesday 4/21/2020 titled "It was Impossible" by Eli Saslow. I will summarize it.
It tells the story of three intensive care unit (ICU) nurses at Sanai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. This is a large city ICU where the ideal case load is one nurse to four patients. Because there are not enough personnel during the current Corona virus epidemic, nurses are sometimes caring for up to fifteen people. Another problem they face is finding places for twenty-six critically ill patients in a hospital with only fifteen ICU beds. They are working twelve hours straight, without bathroom or dinner breaks. The atmosphere is intense with emergency alarms constantly sounding, with no time to tend to all of them. In one case, a patient died because he did not get his medicine in time.
The nurses are wearing the same gowns all night and do not have proper personal protective gear. They are stressed and feel overworked and think it is becoming dangerous for the patients and for themselves. They have reported this to the management several times, but management says they cannot find additional staff. In fact, several newly hired nurses quit because of the tense environment.
Finally, the nurses decided they were not going to report for work, unless more staff became available. They met with a manager who said there is nothing he or the hospital can do. The nurses decided to quit.
Given the limited information in the article and in this summary, answer these questions.
As a manager, how would you handle the nurses request?
Could the nurses have acted differently and still achieved their request?
What power did the nurses have and use? What power did the manager have and use?
What are the repercussions for the patients, hospital, community and the nurses?
The response must include a reference list. One-inch margins, double-space, Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font and APA style of writing and citations.