Cleaning up : how hospital outsourcing is hurting workers and endangering patients PDF
Preview Cleaning up : how hospital outsourcing is hurting workers and endangering patients
CLEANING UP A volume in the series The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work edited by Suzanne Gordon and Sioban Nelson A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. CLEANING UP How Hospital Outsourcing Is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients Dan Zuberi ILR PRESS AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright © 2013 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2013 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2013 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zuberi, Dan, author. Cleaning up : how hospital outsourcing is hurting workers and endangering patients / Dan Zuberi. pages cm. — (The culture and politics of health care work) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5072-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8014-7896-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Hospital housekeeping—British Columbia—Vancouver. 2. Hospital care— Contracting out—British Columbia—Vancouver. 3. Hospital care—British Columbia—Vancouver—Safety measures. 4. Hospitals—British Columbia— Vancouver—Employees. 5. Nosocomial infections—British Columbia—Vancouver. I. Title. RA975.5.H6Z83 2013 362.11068'4—dc23 2013013924 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the memory of Helen Robinson, who loved a good book. Contents Acknowledgments ix 1. “Stuff Gets Missed”: An Introduction to a Growing Health Care Crisis 1 2. Germs, Blood, and Cost-Cutting: The Daily Struggle to Keep Hospitals Clean 19 3. Compromising Cleanliness: How Outsourcing Keeps Hospital Workers from Doing Their Jobs 36 4. Untrained Workers, Unfit Managers 51 5. Breaking Up the Team 67 6. Down and Out in Vancouver: Struggling, Stressed, and Exhausted Hospital Support Workers 81 7. Cleaning Up 105 Notes 127 References 149 Index 175 Acknowledgments I thank the many people who helped me complete the research behind this book and its publication. First and foremost, the interview participants, who remain anonymous, made this work possible by sharing their time, stories, and invaluable insights. While their stories, at times, broke my heart, I applaud their hard work, dedication, and commitment. I also extend an extraordinary thank you to Melita Ptashnick, who began working on this project before returning to school to complete her MA degree and has worked for years helping collect, analyze, and disseminate data as a research assistant and coordinator on this and several other ongoing research projects. I have been fortunate to have the help of many research assistants for this study, including Tamara J. Ibrahim, Michael Halpin, Katherine McCallum, Geraldina Polanco, and Ariel Taylor. I am especially appreciative of the Social Sciences and Humanities and Research Council of Canada for a Standard Research Grant, which supported this research. This research also benefited from a UBC Dean of Arts Undergradu- ate Research Award and a New Investigator Salary Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2011–2016). This research would not have been possible had it not been for the help and support of several staff members at the Hospital Employees’ Union, especially Marcy Cohen, Chris Kincaid, Deborah Littman, and Jennifer Whiteside. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to benefit from the mentoring of many senior scholars who are leaders in their field. I thank my undergradu- ate honors advisor, Patricia Fernandez-Kelly and my MSc advisor at Oxford, George Smith. I am especially grateful for the ongoing support and mentorship of my PhD supervisor, Katherine S. Newman, dean of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and my supervisory committee members William J. Wilson and Mary C. Waters at Harvard University, as well as Jeffrey Reitz at the Univer- sity of Toronto. I also thank my post-doctoral supervisor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Clyde Hertzman, and my early career mentors: Neil Guppy at UBC and David Hulchanksi and Sheila Neysmith at the University of Toronto. I thank Faye Mishna, dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Mark Stabile, director of the School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Toronto for their support. ix
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