120 Queen’s Medical Center nurses make a case for safe staffing

HONOLULU (KHON2) — More than 100 nurses from the Queen’s Medical Center marched to the the Manamana campus to make the case for safe staffing.

The nurses presented almost 100 unsafe staffing reports over the last eight months to the CEO, highlighting that incidents at the hospital represent half of the forms filed in 2024.

According to the report, only 6% of nurses said they have the staff they need and factors such as stress and burnout contribute to the high turnover rate.

“The safety and wellbeing of our patients are very literally in our hands and it’s our number one priority every day. We are asking our employer to help us assure safe care by providing reasonable nurse-to-patient ratios. They continue to refuse,” said Donna Miyamoto, a Queen’s Medical Center nurse of more than 30 years.

The report also said that in the last five years, 95% of Queen’s nurses said they have considered leaving for mainland hospitals that have safe staffing laws.

Safe staffing issues have also been negotiated at Kapiolani Medical Center.

Officials reported that “hundreds of copies of the employer’s proposal were mailed to the nurses homes at an estimated cost of $4,000.” The proposal was returned.

“We want a contract that takes care of nurses so we can take care of patients,” said Leticia Calles, a three-year Cardiac Invasive Services RN.

The Queen’s Medical Center issued the following statement:

The Queen’s Medical Center continues its conversations with the Hawaii Nurses Association and remains hopeful that an agreement with HNA can be reached.

Nurses under the Hawaii Nurses Association continue to work without a contract.