UC Irvine nurse navigators get organized to save their workspaces, push management to fix issues with schedules and staffing

UC Irvine's nurse navigators (also sometimes called case managers) are responsible for coordinating all of the cancer patient's treatment and care plans while also providing education and emotional support during this difficult time in their lives. Oncology nurse navigators specialize in assisting cancer patients and their families with navigating the complex healthcare system by playing an important role in ensuring that all aspects of patient care run smoothly, from diagnosis to treatment and survivorship. 

Like so many of us, they are increasingly dealing with short staffing, increased workloads, burnout, and turnover as they are forced to do more with less. 

Last year, UC Irvine management went a step further by trying to take away the nurse navigators' work spaces, leaving many without a desk and some forced to work in common areas that are disruptive. Having assigned cubicles is more important than you might think for nurse navigators—these workers have lots of sensitive documentation that they handle every day, including insurance information, patient health information, discharge plan and continuing care paperwork, and more. 

"Walking into work every day not knowing if you'll have a desk or if you have to haul all of your work materials to a new location creates stress, inefficiencies which can lead to delays for patients, a heightened risk of HIPAA violations, and potentially serious mistakes in ongoing treatment plans. We're just wasting time trying to find a space to work when we could be attending to our patients," said Sarah Pinka-Majchrowski, a Nurse Navigator at UC Irvine.

These UPTE members had seen how other nurse navigators and case managers across the state fought back against similar changes at their workplaces, and knew they had to get organized. They soon launched a petition campaign to advocate for themselves and their patients, which led to a meeting with Labor Relations. When that meeting didn't produce the results they were looking for, case managers decided to march on their director.

"Our director definitely didn't like when we showed up unannounced with our demands, but at the end of the day her negative reaction doesn't outweigh the cost being paid by patients and the nurse navigators who work tirelessly to serve them. Ultimately, they backed off their plan, and that's a big win for us," Sarah recounted.

But the issue of workspaces isn't the only one being faced by nurse navigators at UC Irvine. As is common across UC, burnout and low morale are creating turnover and staffing issues. Nurse navigators have used their workspace campaign as an avenue to also begin those discussions with management, as well.

"Since our petition and march on the boss campaign, I can definitely notice a difference in the way that Labor Relations and management interact with us. They are much more likely to go out of their way to get our input or run things by us first, which at the end of the day is the kind of dignity and respect we all deserve from management," Sarah said of the changes she has seen since this campaign began. "They have committed to hiring more nurses, which will make it easier for us to take PTO or vacation to avoid burnout. We're also talking in detail about our job duties and workload, and getting more medical assistants hired in some places to help reduce the burden on nurse navigators. We're even starting to discuss a new 4 day/10 hour workweek to help free up additional workspace and give people more time to rest."

Issues still exist and UPTE members remain organized and vigilant if additional action is needed. Ultimately, their efforts serve as a good reminder to us all of the power we have in our union when we get organized and work together.