Nurses Call Out Alleged Staffing Shortage at Local NYC Hospital During ‘Day of Action'

More than 100 nurses rallied outside of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Wednesday morning to call attention to what they say is a dire nursing shortage.

Dozens of nurses saying the current nursing shortage is leading to long hours and the inability to take care of their patient load.

"We took an oath in nursing school that we were going to do what’s right for patients," Aretha Morgan, a pediatric emergency nurse, said. "And we can’t do what’s right because there is not enough of us to do what’s right."

Nurses say the stress level is leading to burnout, causing some nurses to leave.

"We cannot afford to have our nurses leave to other institutions when we have trained them to take care of our patients within this community," Noemi DeJesus-Aponte, a labor and delivery nurse, said.

In six weeks, a state health care staffing law will go into effect. While the nurses acknowledge it will help with transparency with staffing levels, they say it won’t force hospitals to hire more nurses which is what they want.

"We will have a committee with management where we sit down and look unit by unit and come up with a clinical staffing plan. Those plans won’t be enforceable under the law until 2023," Executive Director of the New York State Nurses Association Pat Kane said.

Over the next four weeks, the nurses will rally at different hospitals to continue to call attention to the shortage.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital provided News 4 New York a comment Wednesday morning saying they’re currently navigating unprecedented circumstances because of the pandemic and they want to try to recruit qualified, caring nurses.

The full statement reads: “As we continue to navigate unprecedented challenges associated with the pandemic, the wellbeing and safety of our patients and the community is always our top priority. We value our dedicated nurses and their contributions to the exceptional care we deliver every day, reflected in the recognition our hospital has received for clinical excellence and outstanding patient outcomes. Despite the national shortage of nurses, we are continuously attracting and adding skilled, caring nursing professionals to our incredible care teams.”