FULLERTON : Some Nurses Offered Severance at St. Jude

In its first such action, St. Jude Medical Center is offering severance packages to dozens of nurses in its medical surgical units, the hospital confirmed Friday.

Employees said the announcement came abruptly at a 7 a.m. staff meeting Thursday. The hospital’s 52 licensed vocational nurses said they were told that they could either stay on as patient care technicians--a lower job classification that pays less--or accept the severance package and seek work elsewhere.

“Everyone was shocked,” said Ruth Rundgren, a 22-year St. Jude employee who opted to take the package of one week’s pay for each year of employment at the Fullerton hospital.

The restructuring, which affects 52 nurses, mirrors changes at other health-care facilities across the region.

“Three years ago there was a shortage of nurses in Southern California,” said David Langness, spokesman for the Hospital Council of Southern California. “Today there is an oversupply.”

Because of the push by insurers to hold down medical costs, patients are spending less time in hospitals, Langness said, and that is reducing the need for health-care professionals in specialties such as nursing.

The reorganization at St. Jude was not prompted by financial difficulty, said Doreen Dann, vice president of clinical services at St. Jude. The responsibilities of those leaving their jobs will be covered by increasing the hours of some of the hospital’s registered nurses, she said. “We may even have to hire some registered nurses.”

Indeed, by comparison to other hospitals in Orange County, St. Jude has had a high patient occupancy rate for the past year, with about 60% of its 347 beds filled. That compares to a countywide rate of 43.3%, according to the Hospital Council of Southern California.

Relatively high occupancy rates, however, do not make health-care facilities immune from the consolidation sweeping the industry, analysts say.

“Even financially healthy hospitals are looking at their costs,” said Marianne Harrison, a health care consultant with the Los Angeles accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand.