Nurses protest at Palomar Health Poway over ICU working conditions in pandemic

POWAY (CNS) - Registered nurses and caregivers gathered outside Palomar Medical Center Poway Friday, Dec. 11 to protest what they say as unsafe working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, a claim which the healthcare system described as "appalling'' and "irresponsible.''

The disagreement stems from a waiver Palomar Health received from the California Department of Public Health on Wednesday which allows the Poway campus to assign one intensive care nurse to care for up to three patients, depending on patient acuity. Nurses say they are already overworked. In late April, Palomar Health lai...