More nurses are joining unions

There is plenty of bad news about health care these days — insurance companies refusing to pay for necessary care, astronomical drug prices, and hospital staff shortages — but there are still some reasons for hope. I first wrote about nurse staffing problems in The New York Times in 2010 . Then, new research revealed a scary fact: When nurses are overworked, more patients die .

But recently in Pittsburgh, where I live, 860 registered nurses and advanced practice nurses at UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital decided they’d had enough and voted to unionize, joining the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). As a nurse who has also worked too many shifts with too few staff, I can say that unions in health care are a reason for optimism.

The Magee nurses’ number one complaint echoed the o