Registered nurses and healthcare workers in Ventura County health facilities have approved a new tentative collective bargaining agreement that they call a first step to help retain experienced RNs and recruit new nurses that is essential to tackling a persistent nursing shortage for county health facilities.

Will also cover accidents and Injuries. A landmark program to provide supplemental insurance protection for registered nurses injured in workplace assaults or injuries went live this week for 12,000 RNs who work in 28 California and Nevada hospitals that are a part of one of the nation’s largest hospital systems, Dignity Health.

Three bills sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United that would enhance patient safety, increase access to care, and promote workplace violence prevention advanced in the California legislature this week. Late Tuesday night, the Assembly Health Committee gave the green light to AB 2533 to protect the ability of Californians to seek medical care from the providers of their choice by restricting higher charges for patients who get medical care outside their insurance provider “network.”

RNs protest unsafe patient care conditions, stalled talks. Several hundred San Bernardino County registered nurses from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), the county detention centers, juvenile halls, outpatient clinics, and public health programs will hold an informational picket on Thursday, May 1, to call attention to what they view as unsafe conditions for their patients and a lack of response in negotiations by county officials. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United represents approximately 1,300 RNs in San Bernardino County who have been trying to negotiate an agreement for more than four months with little progress on key issues of patient safety.

MAINE--The Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses United will hold a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening to demand that the administration of Calais Regional Hospital restore recently cut services and staff hours so that patients in the community can continue to receive safe and accessible care.

CA nurses mobilize to win passage into law. Registered nurses applauded the approval of a bill that steps up violence-prevention policies in California hospitals, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, who sponsored the bill, announced today. Senate Bill 1299, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, was approved in a vote today in the Senate Labor Committee. It next goes to the Senate Health Committee on April 30. The issue gained greater urgency this week due to the stabbings of two registered nurses at two separate Los Angeles-area hospitals.