March 1, 2010 - Our Bargaining Team also asked the hospitals to include Patient Safety language in our next contract. HCA negotiators responded that nurses are not disciplined for the act of self reporting itself. However, they can be disciplined up to termination for the error itself.

As nurses, we are committed to taking the best care of our patients. Even if we make an error and even when there is not a bad patient outcome, we walk around with that feeling of guilt, replaying the mistake in our mind, and looking at it from every angle. Everyone makes a mistake at some point in his or her career, whether it be as a new nurse when we are still learning or for any number of reasons. We are human.

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