A sign outside of St. Charles Bend.

St. Charles Bend has cut back the number of registered nurses available on standby to care for dialysis patients, citing lack of need during nights and Sunday shifts.

The health system reviewed how many times it needed the two registered nurses on standby to perform dialysis on nights and Sundays over the past eight months, said Stacy Youngs, chief nursing officer for St. Charles Bend and Redmond. The standby shifts are in addition to regular shifts. 

Over that time period, the dialysis nurse was only needed, on average, five times a month for after hours care, Youngs said. 

“Based on this, we’ve made the thoughtful adjustment to move from two on-call nurses to one,” Youngs said.  “This model reflects the standard of care followed by hospitals across the state and ensures we remain aligned with best practices while continuing to meet the needs of our community.” 

The health system vowed to continue to collaborate on the changes with the nursing team.

Normally, two registered nurses work together to provide and oversee dialysis for patients with kidney failure. Dialysis nurses spend about four hours with each patient while they go through the process.

There are six dialysis nurses on staff at St. Charles Bend.

Nurses, represented by the Oregon Nurses Association, believe the health system endangers patients and nurse safety with the cuts, said Kevin Mealy, association spokesman.

The Oregon Nurses Association — representing 1,170 nurses at St. Charles Bend and 250 healthcare workers at St. Charles Prineville, Redmond, home health and hospice —  believe the changes were made without input by the union or team members, Mealy said.

“Radical cuts in staffing without a plan, risks patients’ lives,” said Jason Strunk, Oregon Nurses Association member and dialysis nurse at St. Charles Bend. “St Charles is trying to fix a budget by risking our most vulnerable patients by cutting staffing without a plan. There is a reason (we) fight so hard for safe staffing in our contracts.”

Nurses expressed frustration that the health system was focused on budgeting instead of patient care, said Jason Herring, a union labor representative. Nurses are concerned and one wrote a letter to the editor at The Bulletin recently.  

“Dialysis nurses presented St. Charles with legitimate safety and nursing practice concerns,” Herring said. Ït’s alarming that hospital management has not taken nurses seriously. Safety is not a budgeting line item.”