Becker's Hospital Review

39 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Chicago nurses placed on leave after delivering dead flowers to management By Kelly Gooch F ive nurses at Chicago-based Cook County Health were placed on paid administrative leave in the fall of 2020 aer participating in what they called a Hal- loween-themed union march at the health system's John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in Chi- cago. e nurses and about 15 other National Nurs- es United members went to nursing manage- ment offices on the fih floor of the hospital Oct. 28 escorted by security, the health sys- tem and union confirmed to Becker's. ey brought with them posters, dead flowers, a plastic rat and plastic bloody skeleton. e group delivered the flowers to a nursing manager's office before hospital police asked the group to leave due to its size, Rhodelyn Bedford, RN, a nurse at Stroger's critical care burn unit, told the Chicago Tribune. Aer the incident, which took place on the first day of contract negotiations, Cook County Health sent letters to five nurses in the group notifying them they were on paid administrative leave, pending the health system's investigation. According to the Tribune, the letter said the group "made threats against one or more CCH employees in a number of ways," citing Cook County Health personnel rules about fighting or disruptive behavior, employee abuse or ha- rassment and intimidating or coercing another employee. e letter indicated that violations of the personnel rules substantiated during the investigation may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination. "As a matter of policy, we do not respond to individual personnel matters," a statement from Cook County Health said. "What I can tell you is that we take our obligation to provide a workplace free of harassment or intimidation very seriously and will hold employees accountable for actions that vio- late our personnel rules and rules of conduct. Our personnel process affords employees an opportunity to provide evidence and explain their version of events before determining the appropriate course of action." But National Nurses United said the health system made disciplinary threats against nurses who are advocating for patient care improvements, including better staffing. One nurse testified before the Cook County Board that the group of workers were celebrating the opening of bargaining and went to the administration wing Oct. 28 to discuss their concerns with directors. "ey had positive interactions and brought posters and a bouquet of dead flowers with a plastic rat in it to symbolize the poor relation- ship we have. Now they are being threatened with termination for this activity," the nurse, Falguni Dave, RN, said. "is must stop now." National Nurses United represents 1,350 Cook County Health nurses. Becker's requested an update Dec. 9 and the health system said it doesn't disclose person- nel matters publicly. n About 9% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients readmitted within 2 months, CDC finds By Erica Carbajal A bout 1 in 11 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were readmitted to the same hospital within two months, highlighting the potential need for ongo- ing care, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published Nov. 9. The CDC used EHR and administrative data from the Pre- mier Healthcare Database to evaluate 106,543 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and found that 9 percent (9,504) were readmitted within two months of discharge. Multiple readmissions were reported in 1.6 percent of patients. Risk for readmission increased in patients who were age 65 or older, had a preexisting chronic condition, were hospitalized within three months prior to their initial COVID-19 hospitalization or were initially discharged to a long-term care facility. n Deep cleaning does little to prevent COVID-19 indoors, scientists say By Mackenzie Bean D econtaminating surfaces in airports, public transit vehicles and other public settings does little to pre- vent the spread of COVID-19 indoors, scientists told The New York Times. Scientists first warned about the potential of contaminated surfaces to spread COVID-19 this spring, before more re- search came out on the topic. Experts now know COVID-19 is primarily spread through the air, but many cities world- wide are still placing an emphasis on surface cleaning. In New York City, for example, workers regularly disinfect sur- faces on buses and subways, according to the Times. "In my opinion, a lot of time, energy and money is being wasted on surface disinfection, and more importantly, di- verting attention and resources away from preventing air- borne transmission," Kevin Fennelly, MD, a respiratory in- fection specialist and researcher at the National Institutes of Health, told the publication. n

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