Nurses are calling on SSM Health to prioritize patient and staff safety and address their concerns about workplace violence

Registered nurses at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital (SLUH) in St. Louis, Mo., will hold a rally on Tuesday, Dec. 23, to highlight chronic short staffing and ongoing safety concerns that SSM Health has repeatedly refused to address. The nurses are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

After the tragic incident in the emergency Department last month, nurses are calling on SLUH to drastically overhaul its priorities and immediately shift its focus to ensuring that patients and staff are safe. Weapons routinely make it into patient care areas, putting nurses and patients at risk. RNs are demanding that nurses can deliver care without being subjected to violence in the workplace.

Who: Nurses from Saint Louis University Hospital
What: Rally for safe staffing and workplace safety
When: Tuesday, Dec. 23, 7-7:30 p.m.
Where: Saint Louis University Hospital, 1201 South Grand Blvd, St. Louis, Mo.

“Many units at SLUH are dangerously understaffed. This compromises our ability to provide quality care and puts patient safety at risk,” said Kellie Allen, RN and NNOC chief nurse representative at SLUH. “For years, our attempts to warn management about the consequences of short staffing have gone unheeded. Now, keeping patients safe too often means putting ourselves in harm’s way,” 

“The only way to keep patients nurses safe is to staff our hospitals and clinics safely,” Allen added. “We will continue to stand up and speak out until our employer lives up to the values they market to our community and put the health and safety of patients and workers before their bottom line.”

Rather than acknowledging and addressing repeated concerns about dangerous staffing and security practices, hospital leadership has decided to implement new staffing guidelines that increase nurse-to-patient ratios. Meanwhile, instead of working with nurses to improve staffing, patient care and safety, management ignores the issues nurses raised and are more concerned about profits than patient outcomes.

NNOC represents more than 700 nurses at Saint Louis University Hospital. In July 2024, nurses ratified a new contract that included measures addressing workplace violence.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.