Patients have sometimes lost their lives or their conditions worsened because of lack of medical attention when nurses go on strike.
However, Connelly, Dahlen, Evans, and Wieker (1997 51-52) believe that nurses are ethically right when they participate in strikes and all other forms of protests or actions which could bring their work to a stand still, as long as they are fighting for a right course, which could be improved conditions of their working environment and remuneration.
Strikes and other related actions which could create work stoppage for a period is necessary especially for nurses who continually work in poor conditions. Nurses have the responsibility of improving the quality of their nursing care (Connelly, et al., 1979, 52).
This gives them the ethical basis for which to bargain collectively with their respective employers (in most cases, the government) to improve the conditions to enable them improve their services. Nurses are normally entrusted with making ethically-moral decisions in their practice, and therefore they have to consider the quality of healthcare that they provide to patients (Neiman 2011, 597).
Thus, whenever the institution they are working for put in place deficient working conditions, they are not supposed to agree to compromise the lives of the patients, but to force the institution responsible to improve the situation.
Issues such as poor staffing, inadequate facilities, low salaries/wages as well as other conditions which affect provision of nursing care could compromise delivery of quality and long-term health care to patients. In most cases, nurses would present their cases to those responsible to understand the real situation and why the course of improvement is necessary (Jacox 1971, 243).
When such collective bargaining between the nurses’ representatives and the employer has proved to be ineffective, strikes, boycotts, and go-slows are adopted to make the employer understand why the improvements are necessary (Giovinco 1993, 86).
Strikes are therefore important because they enable nurses to achieve a bargaining advantage or a necessary improvement without fully withdrawing from delivery of nursing care. According to the American Association’S Code for Nurses, nurses are allowed to participate in a course that enables them establish as well as maintain work conditions which are favorable for achieving high quality nursing care (Hill 1971, 152).
As such, strikes offer nurses the opportunity to improve their working conditions as well as nursing care for patients and the local community. Without strikes, hospital administrations and institutions charged with the management of healthcare tend to cut costs by employing less qualified staff and purchasing relatively poor quality facilities.
When strikes occur, the working condition is improved, and this can help attract more qualified and experienced nurses and physicians. This in turn improves the quality of healthcare delivery in the hospital/institution.
Reference List
Connelly, C. E., Dahlen, R. M., Evans, L. K., & Wieker, N. A., 1979, To strike or not to strike: A debate on the ethics of strikes by nurses. Supervisor Nurse, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 51-59.
Giovinco, G., 1993. When nurses strike: Ethical conflicts. Nursing management, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 86-90.
Hill, S. G., 1971. The right to strike. The Hospital, Vol. 67, pp. 151-154.
Jacox, A., 1971, Collective action and control of practice by professionals. Nursing Forum, Vol. 10, pp. 239-257.
Neiman, P., 2011. Nursing strike: An ethical perspective on the US healthcare community. Nursing Ethics, Vol.18, No. 4, pp. 596-605.