Reply #13: I had forgotten about the Nurses in California

[Heddi]

(even though I just did a report on them) and yeah, I guess that's true that if it weren't for the nurses' union, they'd have patient loads of 10+ patients.

I don't think either of these hospitals has had a strike of nurses in many years, but what happens to the patients if the nurses strike? If there's a strike, and you have to strike (lest be a scab by working), who takes care of the patients? Nurses that are brought in from temp agencies? That doesn't sound very good for the patient, as temp nurses don't know the protocol of the hospital, where things are, how things run---it seems like a losing situation for the patients (and i suppose it's a losing situation for the patients if they have overworked and underpaid nurses as well).