A group of more than 70 union nurses signed a letter expressing no confidence in the operating room department manager at Boston-based Tufts Medical Center, according to an April 27 report from The Boston Globe.
Nurses spent “several months” communicating their concerns to Tufts administrators and considered the April 23 letter of no confidence a “last resort,” union spokesperson David Schildmeier told the Globe.
The union is not in contract negotiations with Tufts at this time, Mr. Schildmeier told Becker’s.
The group accused Director of Perioperative Services Anna DaSilva, DNP, RN, of failing to sufficiently respond to a shortage of nurses within the department. Ten nurses have retired or resigned in the past year, and those positions have gone unfilled, the union said.
The staff shortage has required nurses to work overtime with “no option to say no” and spend hours on call outside of the hospital, the report said.
A Tufts spokesperson told the Globe the department’s high surgical volume is “an encouraging sign of the community’s trust in our services.”
“We remain confident in our staffing plan and nursing leadership and are committed to working collaboratively with our nursing colleagues to safely deliver outstanding care to our patients,” a Tufts Medical Center spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s.
The union has filed complaints with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the American College of Surgeons, The Joint Commission and CMS.
Editor’s note: This article was updated April 27 at 10:46 am CT.
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