SATSE denounces a shortage of nurses in Cirugía Cardiovascular at the Reina Sofía
The nursing union SATSE warns that the unit, with twenty patients admitted and intermediate care beds, operates with a staff it considers insufficient for its level of complexity.
Redacción · Publicada el September 8, 2026
The Nursing Union (SATSE) in Córdoba has denounced what it considers a shortage of nursing professionals in the Hospitalization Unit of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía. According to the union, this situation compromises patient safety and makes it difficult to provide care appropriate to the complexity of the service.
The unit usually attends to twenty hospitalized patients, plus four intermediate nursing care beds, intended for people who need continuous surveillance and close monitoring, with care similar to that of an intensive care unit (ICU). In addition, there is care in two dressing rooms, an operating room and the Day Hospital, tasks that fall on the same staff.
Despite this workload, SATSE points out that from Monday to Friday the unit has only three nurses on the morning shift, three on the afternoon shift and two on the night shift. On weekends and holidays, staffing drops to two nurses per shift, with occasional reinforcement of a third professional during the day.
For the union, these figures are incompatible with the complexity of cardiovascular surgery patients, who often require continuous checks, complex treatments, drainage monitoring and an immediate response to possible complications. SATSE maintains that the staff shortage forces nurses to take on constant care pressure, with simultaneous tasks that make it difficult to devote the necessary time to each patient, which in its view generates professional burnout and increases the risk of incidents.
The union adds that various scientific studies, both national and international, link inadequate nurse ratios with more complications, adverse events, hospital readmissions and mortality, as well as poorer quality and humanization of care.
«Patient safety and the health of professionals must be a priority for the Health Administration», concludes the union organization.
What the union is asking for
SATSE has requested from the Management Direction of the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía and the Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS) an increase in nurses in the unit, with a minimum staffing of four professionals on the morning shift, four on the afternoon shift and three on the night shift, every day of the year, according to the note sent by SATSE Córdoba.
The unit usually attends to twenty hospitalized patients, plus four intermediate nursing care beds, intended for people who need continuous surveillance and close monitoring, with care similar to that of an intensive care unit (ICU). In addition, there is care in two dressing rooms, an operating room and the Day Hospital, tasks that fall on the same staff.
Despite this workload, SATSE points out that from Monday to Friday the unit has only three nurses on the morning shift, three on the afternoon shift and two on the night shift. On weekends and holidays, staffing drops to two nurses per shift, with occasional reinforcement of a third professional during the day.
For the union, these figures are incompatible with the complexity of cardiovascular surgery patients, who often require continuous checks, complex treatments, drainage monitoring and an immediate response to possible complications. SATSE maintains that the staff shortage forces nurses to take on constant care pressure, with simultaneous tasks that make it difficult to devote the necessary time to each patient, which in its view generates professional burnout and increases the risk of incidents.
The union adds that various scientific studies, both national and international, link inadequate nurse ratios with more complications, adverse events, hospital readmissions and mortality, as well as poorer quality and humanization of care.
«Patient safety and the health of professionals must be a priority for the Health Administration», concludes the union organization.
What the union is asking for
SATSE has requested from the Management Direction of the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía and the Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS) an increase in nurses in the unit, with a minimum staffing of four professionals on the morning shift, four on the afternoon shift and three on the night shift, every day of the year, according to the note sent by SATSE Córdoba.