Saint Vincent cutting five-nurse IV therapy team

Photo | Grant Welker Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester

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By Kevin Koczwara

Saint Vincent Hospital is eliminating its five-nurse intravenous therapy team, once other nurses at the Worcester healthcare provider are trained in administering IVs as part of their regular duties.

Saint Vincent said it is making the change to improve the flow of patient care, so all nurses are trained in administering intravenous therapy to patients.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association union, which represents nurses at Saint Vincent, called the decision callous and dangerous in a press release announcing a press conference on Friday where MNA will deliver a petition to the hospital’s CEO Carolyn Jackson.

The petition was signed by more than 80% of nurses at the hospital and 30 physicians, according to MNA.

The petition details the “latest assault on the quality and safety of patient care that has further alarmed the nurses and precipitated a decision to alert the public about rapidly deteriorating patient care conditions impacting every aspect of care at St. Vincent Hospital,” the MNA’s statement reads.

The five nurses comprising the team are transitioning to other roles at the hospital, said Saint Vincent in its statement, and the MNA was appropriately notified of the change.

“Saint Vincent Hospital is committed to providing high-quality, safe patient care,” the hospital said in a written statement.

Saint Vincent is owned by Tenet Healthcare, a for-profit healthcare company based in Texas. It operates 65 hospitals and more than 450 healthcare facilities. The latest dispute with the MNA comes after the nurses striked for 301 days in 2021 and 2022 over the nurse-to-patient staffing ratios at the hospital.

While the five positions being cut doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of a hospital with more than 500 nurses, MNA President Katie Murphy called the decision significant and short sighted.

Murphy, an overnight nurse in the ICU unit at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said IV nurses are highly trained in a specific skill allowing other nurses to care for more patients and administer medicine quicker because they don’t need to worry about trying to hook IVs to patients.

“They are experts,” Murphy said.

IV nurses are an important part of a hospital system because they have the experience and expertise to get an IV in patients whose veins aren’t easy to spot, have been damaged, or need a long line that goes up near the heart, she said.

“Nurses at Saint Vincent’s have too many patients,” Murphy said. “Adding another workload, another 15 to 20 minutes, takes away from patient care.”

According to the MNA, the elimination of the IV nurse team is part of an ongoing trend of deterioration of Saint Vincent. In the petition to Jackson, MNA will present a list of issues, including the hospital being short-staffed, lacking necessary supplies, and serious events putting patient safety at risk.