MountainView Hospital nurses say they are ready to strike

Registered nurses at MountainView Hospital have authorized their negotiating team to strike against the hospital if necessary, the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United said Thursday.

The strike vote came from "frustration with the lack of progress in ongoing collective bargaining and the hospital's refusal to take measures to guarantee safe staffing and patient care standards at the hospital," the labor group said in a statement.

The union said it's been negotiating a contract for 16 months, with nurse-to-patient staffing ratios as the biggest sticking point. Nurses said they're assigned three or more critically ill patients in the intensive-care unit, and as many as eight patients in general medical surgical and cardiac monitor units. They pointed to a study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing that found capping ratios at five patients per nurse in medical-surgical units allowed nurses to spend more time with patients, which led to lower mortality rates.

MountainView said in a statement that its focus remains on providing excellent patient care, and that Nevada Hospital Association studies show mandated staffing ratios don't improve patient care. The hospital isn't willing to agree to them, officials said.

The hospital also offered a "generous wage increase" and continued benefits including free health care and a 401(k) plan, even as other local hospitals such as University Medical Center are cutting wages retroactively by up to 2 percent.

The vote "is yet another typical union tactic that attempts to pressure the hospital into signing a contract that is not in the best interest of the hospital, its patients and the community," the hospital's statement said.

"We believe that we have offered a very good contract to the union."