A nurse in one hospital was mandated to stay for the 3-11 shift at 1 p.m.
for a call out that occurred at 9 a.m. She had no one to meet her son
[when he got] off the bus at 4 p.m. Management said he was old enough to get off the bus himself. She was told she [would be considered] unprofessional if she abandoned her patients.

This and other cases are not unusual or extreme examples, said Danbury (Conn.) Hospital Professional Nurses’ Association former president and current treasurer Carol Flynn in her testimony in March before the Commission on the Future of Hospital Care in Connecticut. The commission was established last year to evaluate the state’s acute care hospitals, including their financial status and ability to deliver care. During testimony on the nursing shortage, Flynn emphasized that focusing on retention would make recruitment a "non-issue."

Flynn, who is also a vice president of the Connecticut Federation of Education and Professional Employees, testified that the problems that keep her from recommending nursing as a profession are many and fixable. Among them: nurses being floated out of one specialty unit to another without adequate training; the lack of patient-to-nurse ratios; lack of supportive personnel; redesigned workplaces that eliminated some RN positions; hazardous work environments; mandated extra shifts; denial of sick leave and vacation; no time for breaks or meals or to care for personal needs; and errors that result in blame rather than system solutions.

"When errors are found, the guilty parties are disciplined or threatened. The system is rarely investigated," said Flynn.

"Other nurses can testify to the fact that some managers want to decrease their ‘medical incident forms,’ so they are thrown out! Some nurses are threatened if they fill them out."

Flynn noted that there are many desirable and proven solutions to these problems, ranging from legislation on staffing ratios to whistleblower protection for employees who report improper patient care. Additionally, employer-focused strategies might include flexible scheduling; better wage and benefit programs; blame-free environments concerning errors; mentor programs for new staff; and paid continuing education programs.