Chinese Hospital Nurses Secure Contract to Boost Safety and Retention

San Francisco Hospital Nurses Secure Contract Enhancements for Safety and Retention

Registered nurses at San Francisco's Chinese Hospital have successfully ratified a new three-year contract, a decision announced by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) on June 27. This contract focuses on improving patient safety and retaining skilled nursing staff.

"We understand our patients in a way that can’t be taught or replicated because we are connected to this community," stated Jeanie Gee, a registered nurse in the medical-surgical department at the hospital. "Our new contract with Chinese Hospital is a move closer to retaining nurses with the language and cultural skills to care for our unique patient population."

The contract includes several measures aimed at enhancing the working conditions for nurses, which in turn benefits patient care:

• Ensuring that training shifts for newly hired nurses and their trainers are not canceled due to low census.
• Improving conditions for the training of nursing students within the hospital.
• Providing additional time for nurses to focus on workplace violence prevention and staffing/safe patient care.
• Enhancing the retention of per diem nurses.

Chinese Hospital's nursing staff joined the CNA in 2019, with their first contract negotiated in 2021. The CNA currently represents about 100 nurses at this facility.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, with over 100,000 members across more than 200 facilities in California, and more than 225,000 registered nurses nationwide.