Nurses warn patients at risk due to high RN turnover 

Registered nurses at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., will hold an informational picket on Tuesday, Dec. 2, to protest the administration’s refusal to address nurses’ concerns during recent contract negotiations. Nurses at the facility represented by California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) worry this refusal could impact nurse retention and patient safety.

“We called the picket because we are tired of working without needed supplies and resources to do our jobs safely,” said Laura Espinosa Bass, RN in the Caritas Suites department. “Our department has been working years without functioning call lights for our patients. Our patients are given handheld bells to ring, and we are expected to be able to respond in an emergency to a patient dinging a bell. This is beyond unsafe for our patients.”

“The hospital is rushing patients through from ER to the floors without providing safe patient hand-off reports to the nurse taking the admissions, sometimes before we even have doctors’ orders for their care,” said Michelle Benvenuti, RN in the post critical care unit. “That’s because management is cutting corners and ignoring the basis for safe patient care.”

Who:    Registered nurses at Providence Saint John’s Health Center

What:   Informational picket for patient safety

When:  Tuesday, Dec. 2, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., rally with speakers at 1 p.m.

Where: Providence Saint John’s, 2121 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, Calif.; on sidewalk near the hospital main entrance

In addition to supplying necessary equipment, nurses believe it’s necessary to improve nurse retention at their hospital, which could benefit ER hand-offs, shorten patient call response times, and improve patient care in every hospital unit.

“Over the past year, our unit’s RN turnover exceeded 33 percent, meaning one-third of our nursing staff in Labor and Delivery left due to untenable working conditions,” said Liz Wade, RN, in the Labor and Delivery department. “In some units, nurses with just a year of experience are now responsible for training new hires or managing entire departments. This creates a profound knowledge gap and poses serious risks to patient safety. Nurses feel torn between protecting our patients, safeguarding our licenses, and keeping our jobs. Faced with that, nurses often leave.”

Nurses are demanding that Providence invest in nurses. Many departments have lost more than 30% of staff nurses in the last year, with some departments experiencing a turnover rate of over 50%. In the past two years, 231 out of the total 640 RNs have resigned to find work elsewhere. Nurses know that safe staffing and support from management are critical to nurse retention. Due to management’s deliberate refusal to address retention, experienced nurses have no time to mentor and train new nurses.

Providence, a 52-hospital system based in Renton, Wash., reported revenue of $30.7 billion for the system in 2024.

Providence Saint John’s RNs have been in negotiations since August 2025 for a new contract with little to no movement on key staffing issues. RNs urge management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a strong contract that ensures safe staffing, dedicated break relief, and an end to the speedup of ER admissions. Saint John’s nurses notified their employer on Nov. 21 that they would hold an informational picket.

CNA represents more than 640 nurses at Providence Saint John’s Health Center.

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