In September 1994, the Sunnyvale Medical Clinic and the Shoreline Group of primary-care physicians merged to form the Camino Medical Group. That same month, El Camino Hospital bought out the Camino Medical Group to form Camino Healthcare. The new system had been launched, but the squabbling had just begun. The merger alone wasn't enough to control costs at El Camino Hospital. Facing a declining patient population, the hospital slashed its nursing staff in September 1993.
Hospital administrators argue that registered nurses are unnecessary for many routine tasks.
Many hospitals throughout the state, both public and for-profit, have taken similar measures. But nursing leaders complain that the cuts have left them overworked and with a lower margin of error in emergencies. In some hospitals facing nursing cuts, physicians are reluctant to back up nurses' complaints, either because they disagree or out of fear they will scare patients away from the hospital. But El Camino is an exception. Among the minority of physicians who spoke out in public is Susan Hansen, a neurologist whose husband joined the district board last year.