ascension seton medical center austin labor and delivery

Sometimes, visiting parents would notice and even offer to help with babies other than their own. “We’re starting with this blank canvas of this super-delicate being, and we’re not even able to provide the most minimal, basic things,” she said. Babies were often left to cry, even though all her training told her to respond immediately. Above all, she found the place was understaffed, forcing her to split her time and attention between four fragile infants when she should be charged with one or two. Gus Bovaīut reality at the hospital soon diverged from Spinney’s expectations. Lindsay Spinney speaks outside the Ascension Seton hospital on June 27. After nursing school, she “applied there only that’s the only job that I wanted.” Specifically, she wanted to work at Seton, a nonprofit whose roots lie with an order of nuns who moved to Austin more than a century past. One day, she shadowed a nurse during a shift and knew instantly that she’d found her calling.

Spinney had worked with kids for years as a nanny and teacher, and she grew up spending time in hospitals because of a sibling with disabilities. A 43-year-old registered nurse at Ascension Seton Medical Center-a 524-bed Catholic hospital in central Austin-Spinney has spent almost six years caring for babies born sick or premature, some so small their weight registers only in grams or ounces. Lindsay Spinney was born in the same hospital where she now works in the newborn intensive care unit. “This support, along with the temporary staff we engaged, ensured we were able to continue to provide quality patient care across all disciplines,” the spokesperson said, adding that Ascension remained committed to reaching a collective bargaining agreement with the union. In a statement to the Observer, an Ascension spokesperson said that 30 percent of nurses represented by the National Nurses United union had chosen to continue working rather than participate in the strike. “It’s really unfortunate that Ascension chose this route.” “Quite honestly, it was appalling,” Fuentes said. She also heard from colleagues in other units that adult patients with wounds had gone without dressing changes, that cardiac infusions had been administered improperly, and that surgeries had taken longer than expected.

In her unit, she observed that blood samples had been collected improperly, requiring additional “sticks” of newborn infants, and that babies on respiratory support had not had their oxygen levels recorded often enough. Kris Fuentes, a registered nurse in Ascension’s neonatal intensive care unit who returned to work with her colleagues on July 1, told the Texas Observer on July 5 that myriad problems occurred while the regular nurses were locked out.

Ascension said this was a requirement of the staffing agency it used to bring in replacement nurses for those four days, but nurses-who’d hoped to return to work the day after their strike-described it as retaliation that could endanger patients. Update: After unionized nurses at Austin’s Ascension Seton Medical Center carried out a one-day strike on June 27, Ascension Health refused to allow them to return to work until July 1.

Ascension seton medical center austin labor and delivery