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Understaffing: Living with the Reality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2021

Jane Greenlaw
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Extract

The nursing shortage has gained national attention, generating a television network special as well as a lengthy article in the NEW YORK TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE, ith much speculation as to causes and solutions. And, while some health care institutions are trying new and creative ways to attract nurses (such as the much-publicized work-everyweekend- have the-rest-of-the-weekoff plan developed by one Texas hospital), others are reducing their bed capacities or attempting to fill the gaps with overtime or temporary personnel.

Type
NLE Rounds
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 9 , Issue 5 , September 1981 , pp. 23 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1981

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Footnotes

Editors’ Note: Nursing Law & Ethics Round is a regular feature of LAW MEDICINE & HEALTH CARE and is edited by Associate Editor Jane L. Greenlaw, formerly Co-editor of NURSING LAW & ETHICS.

References

Horton v. Niagara Falls Mem. Med. Ctr., 380 N.Y.S.2d 116 (N.Y. 1976).Google Scholar
Id. at 119.Google Scholar
Nelson v. Peterson, 542 P.2d 1075 (Utah 1975).Google Scholar
Of course, under the doctrine of respondeat superior the hospital will generally be held vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its employees, to be distinguished from the hospital being held directly liable for its own negligence.Google Scholar
Darling v. Charleston Community Mem. Hosp., 211 N.E.2d 253 (Ill. 1965), cert. denied, 383 U.S. 946 (1966).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Nursing Services, Standard III, Accreditation Manual for Hospitals (JCAH, Chicago) (1981).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Codes Rules and Regulations of the State of New York, Title 10 §405.1024 b.Google Scholar
Darling, , supra note 5, at 260.Google Scholar
This should be distinguished from a nursing strike, which is legal if carried out in accordance with the special provisions of the National Labor Relations Act relating to health care institutions. See Annas, G.J. Glantz, L.H., and Katz, B.F., The Rights of Doctors, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals (Avon Books, New York) (1981) at 344.Google Scholar
Misericordia Hosp. Med. Ctr. v. NLRB, 623 F.2d 808 (2d Cir. 1980). For further discussion of this case, see Greenlaw, J.L., Employer Retaliation: The Myth and the Reality, Nursing Law & Ethics 2(1): 5, 7 (January 1981).Google Scholar