This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA.
At Highland recently, management mandated that all nursing staff attend a class on preventing HAPI’s, also known as “Healthcare Associated Pressure Injuries” or bedsores. Hospitals are not reimbursed for pressure injuries that develop during hospitalization, so these injuries are of serious concern to the hospital’s bottom line.
Management thinks they can prevent pressure injuries by cracking down on our charting. But nurses know that pressure injuries are caused by pressure, not charting! Hospitalized patients need to be regularly repositioned to protect their skin, and this takes STAFF. We need to be fully staffed with nurses and CNAs so that we have the people-power to reposition our patients and protect their skin.
Instead of paying everyone to take a class, how about hiring more staff to actually help our patients?
Click here to read the article printed in the 10-03-24 Healthcare Newsletter
