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As the US hovers on the edge of another season of respiratory viruses, some health care workers are preparing to swap their medical instruments for picket signs, sounding the alarm about a staffing crisis that they say is already affecting patient care. (Hassan, 9/25)

Kaiser Permanente and union representatives pledged to continue negotiating a new contract up until the last minute as the threat of the nation’s latest large-scale strike looms next month. Unless a deal is struck, more than 75,000 health workers will walk out for three days from Oct. 4-7, disrupting care for KP patients in California, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. The unions represent a wide range of KP health workers, including lab technicians, phlebotomists, pharmacists, optometrists, social workers, orderlies, and support staff. (Wolfson, 9/25)

Dozens of nurses on Monday formed a picket line outside SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital on South Grand Boulevard to call for better staffing, guaranteed breaks and more comprehensive sick leave policies. The workers represented by the National Nurses United union earlier this month voted for the strike — nearly three months after their contract expired in mid-June. The nurses say they voted to strike for 24 hours after SSM did not address their concerns about retention and workplace violence due to short staffing. (Fentem, 9/25)

More than 500 dialysis workers across California are expected to go on strike this week over allegedly unfair labor practices at Satellite Healthcare and Fresenius Kidney Care clinics. (Hase, 9/25)

A tight labor market, comparatively poor pay, COVID-19 requirements and a lengthy hiring process contributed to staffing shortages and decreased access to care at federal health care facilities during the pandemic, a new report found. Why it matters: Officials must do more to ensure facilities are properly staffed during normal operations and strategically plan for future pandemics and other health emergencies, according to federal agency watchdogs on the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. (Goldman, 9/26)

In the chaotic environment of an emergency room, hospital staffers sometimes face the question of whether to use physical restraints when a patient is experiencing a behavioral crisis. Using restraints is meant to be a last resort in the face of a patient’s agitation in order to keep health care workers and others around them safe. But restraints can also lead to severe adverse outcomes for patients, including physical and psychological trauma. (Nayak, 9/25)