CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nurses at HCA Corpus Christi Medical Center Bay Area participated in a nationwide rally on Thursday, joining thousands of their colleagues to demand safer staffing levels and patient protections against artificial intelligence in hospitals.
The protest, part of the National Day of Action organized by theNational Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), aimed to highlight the challenges facing nurses and patients in healthcare facilities across the country.
“We’re here to fight for patient safety and help our nurses,” said Jana Rodriguez, a registered nurse at CCMC Bay Area.
Rodriguez said understaffing is one of the biggest challenges affecting patient care.
“Our ER is overflowing. All the good nurses, experienced nurses, are leaving. It affects everybody. If it’s not our floor, they’ll float us somewhere else to help them. Either way, we always get shorted. We’re understaffed, and that affects our patients,” she said.
Another key concern raised by the nurses was the increasing use of artificial intelligence in hospitals. Paul Hirvasoja, a registered nurse, expressed hesitation about the technology’s impact on patient care.
“AI tends to dumb things down a little bit in the sense that nurses will become reliant on the technology. It will undermine the use of nursing judgment when it comes to patient care,” Hirvasoja said.
While nurses at CCMC Bay Area recently ratified a three-year contract with HCA, they said their fight extends beyond their facility.
“We will be letting HCA and the hospital industry know that we are united as one. And we stand in solidarity with all other nurses and our patients as we fight for their care,” Hirvasoja added.
The union said it has not ruled out another meeting at some point this year to continue addressing these issues.
Corpus Christi Medical Center released a statement on the protest -
Today's activity, which is happening at other health systems around the country as well, is a routine tactic from this labor union in hopes of gaining attention. Our staffing is safe and appropriate and we work closely with our doctors and nurses to identify and develop technologies to help improve workflows and allow our caregivers to spend more time with their patients.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
