Becker's Hospital Review

138 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Beaumont loses confidence of more than 650 nurses By Ayla Ellison A group of Southfield, Mich.-based Beaumont Health physicians are pushing for changes at the eight-hos- pital system and submitted the results of a survey of nurses to Beaumont's board in August, which showed the nurses lack con- fidence in the health system's leadership, ac- cording to Crain's Detroit Business. e physicians began talks with leadership aer submitting the results of a survey com- pleted by 1,500 of Beaumont's 5,000 physicians to the board. e survey revealed a lack of confidence in the hospital system's leadership and concerns about its proposed merger with Advocate Aurora Health, which has dual head- quarters in Milwaukee and Downers Grove, Ill. Beaumont confirmed the week of Aug. 17 that it would delay a vote on the planned merger with Advocate Aurora until physician grievances are addressed. e physicians are pushing for management changes, and the board has tentatively agreed to add three physicians to the health system's 16-person board of trustees, according to two physicians who spoke with Crain's Detroit Business. e physicians, who asked to re- main anonymous, said the physicians added to the board must be actively seeing patients. Crain's reported that on Aug. 20 it received the results of a survey of 681 registered nurses at Beaumont that was highly critical of manage- ment and operations. e nurses were asked to indicate whether they agreed or disagreed with several statements. Ninety-six percent of the nurses said they strongly or somewhat disagreed with the statement "I have confi- dence in corporate leadership." Regarding the survey of nurses, a Beaumont spokesperson sent the following statement to Becker's Hospital Review: "We are very proud of our 10,000 extraor- dinary nurses. ree of our hospitals have achieved Magnet status, the highest honor for nursing excellence. Our five other hospitals are progressing toward Magnet status. is is because nurses at Beaumont have a strong voice in how we deliver patient care and their feedback and input is what drives Beaumont's reputation for nursing excellence. At Beau- mont our nurses are essential to ensuring that we deliver compassionate, extraordinary care every day. We actively encourage our nurses to speak up, and we value the input we reg- ularly receive from them through ongoing forums and surveys. We are aware there is a group of 681 individuals who have raised some concerns, and we are listening to them, while working to address what they say is im- portant to them." n Nearly 17% of nurse practitioners furloughed due to COVID-19 & 5 other survey findings By Kelly Gooch N early 17 percent of nurse practitioners have been furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 4 percent were still furloughed at the end of July, according to a national survey from the American Associa- tion of Nurse Practitioners. The survey is based on data collected from July 28 to Aug. 9 among a sample of 4,038 association member nurse practitioners. Respondents self-identified as working across a variety of specialty, acute and primary care work settings, including office-based group practices, hospital inpatient units and outpatient clinics, federally qualified health centers, urgent care centers and Veterans Affairs facilities. Five other survey findings: 1. About 40 percent of respondents reported decreases to their overall in- come, and 31 percent reported decreases in hours worked. 2. Nearly 15 percent of respondents had applied for unemployment bene- fits since the beginning of the pandemic. Eight percent applied for personal loans, and 58 percent looked for other nurse practitioner positions. 3. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they experienced significant de- lays in receiving patients' COVID-19 test results. 4. Five percent of respondents reported testing positive for COVID-19 be- tween the beginning of the pandemic and the end of July. 5. Eighteen percent of respondents said they were going without necessary personal protective equipment. n California identifies first human plague case since 2015 By Anuja Vaidya T he California Department of Public Health in August con- firmed that a state resident test- ed positive for plague. The resident, an avid walker, may have been infected by a flea while walking a dog in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. The resident received necessary medical attention and recovered at home. The last reported human cases of plague in California were two peo- ple who tested positive in 2015. Both were treated and recovered. Plague bacteria are most commonly transmitted by fleas that have acquired the bacteria from infected squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents. Symptoms of plague, which typically appear within two weeks of exposure, include fever, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes. The state health department regularly monitors rodent populations for plague. n

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