Comments on: the deleted drafts

by: TiaM

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:39:00 +0000

Can’t believe there are others out there like me who try to speak up! I work in an NE Ohio hospital floating from straight medical, med/surg, tele and now peds. My home unit is med/surg a 23 bed unit where we have more afternoon shifts then not with no charge nurse,sometimes a secretary, maybe two to three RN’s on, one LPN and if we’re lucky an aide with 20 to 23 patients on the floor (with at least 6-10 of those being total care). Not to mention we do all of the transport to testing after 8:30 pm (even though the numbers prove must of our admission/discharges occur afternoon shift). Thus, we all feel overwhelmed to say the least. When I’m floated to tele (a 36 bed unit) the average RN has 2-6 patients but when they see me they have tried to give me up to 8 (they tell me they love med/surg nurses cause they can handle the load). Most of my colleagues whine and complain all around and to me but when I speak up to floor managers or upper management the others turn into pillars of salt. I feel like I am swimming with baracuda at times. I love nursing generally but cannot tolerate management’s loss of feelings for their former nursing colleagues. Not to mention that I am often miserable when I go home at night because of things I wish I could have accomplished or done for my patient’s and their families. My own family tells me quit and move on to other pastures but I just want to fix things (probably what made me go into nursing LOL). Besides, I have friends at the other major hospitals in the areas (even those who are in union facilities) and they all have the same sad stories. Nursing homes can even be worse with nurses being responsible for up to 30-50 patients a shift. Sometimes I regret my mouth. In one meeting with the COO and DON with our staff I went off. When discussing staffing the DON who tells me “Oh, things have always been this way - when I was on the floor I had as many as 23 patient’s myself”; I told her “too bad when you got to managment you didn’t change things” - the COO laughed. And I wonder how I keep my job? My conclusion - They need bodies in motion.

by: because i’m stupid. what’s your excuse? » about a nurse

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:14:11 +0000

[…] anyway, just before we went home, i went up to the nurse manager and apologized. not for the things i said, but for the way�i said them. “i apologize if i sounded like i was attacking you personally. that was not my intention. i just want you to know that is what’s happening in reality, i hope you didn’t take it personally.” i summarized what my real concerns are, and said sorry one last time. […]

by: Ursa Minor

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:23:44 +0000

That really sucks. I’d be ready to jump if i were in your shoes…and i’m usually fairly loyal.

by: shrimplate

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:31:52 +0000

But but but… we have to bomb the shit out of Iraq! We don’t have the money for sick people. Get real!

by: Heidi

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:44:07 +0000

I know exactly how you and your co-workers feel. We recently started using a new acuity numbers system. They (management) said it was going to help by giving patients more numbers therefore the ability to keep more staff on each shift. The higher the number the more staff. But, with our old system we only counted the floor nurses and floor LNA’s as staff. Now we have higher numbers, but we count the charge nurse and unit clerk as staff. The unit clerk is not even supposed to go in patients rooms! The charge nurse usually wants to help, but gets stuck behind the desk with paperwork. It has been very difficult most nights to give even barely adequate care to patients. The other night I was the only RN on the floor, so I got stuck with the 2 central line, TPN, C-diff, NG, JP,post-op, albumin (NOW), multiple IV ABX (all scheduled at the same time) patients, along with a young person with a Chest tube needing IVP pain medicine every 1-2 hours! Can you say NO Baths, NO bedchanges, but even more disturbing NO TLC. It is really discouraging and I don’t make even close to $40 and hour!

by: Moi

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:39:34 +0000

In my opinion, THIS is why there is a chronic nursing shortage.
NOT that there isn’t enough nurses, or people going to school to become nurses.
1-It’s because of the lousy way nurses are treated by administrators, etc.
2-Because people become nurses because they actually care about people, but their work environment/staffing shortages, doesn’t allow them to.
I hear you (((May))).

by: Melissa

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 02:45:35 +0000

Excellent post and you explained well one of the many reasons for the nursing crisis. Complaining does no good. The decision makers simply don’t care.

Money at my hospital isn’t an issue. We can afford aides, but the decision makers would rather get big bonuses, so they can continue to drive fancy cars and buy million dollar homes. I’m starting to wonder if I might be happier working someplace else.

by: Drei

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:08:07 +0000

i admire you for standing up and letting your nurse manager know what is REALLY going on. working 12 hours and having more than 2 patients is really hard work and not having a PCA is suicidal. i hope that some good thing will come out from your letter. just hang in there. your patients are lucky to have you as a nurse.

by: Crystal

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 16:44:04 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear about your frustrations. I am a PCT going through nursing school. One day last week, I was expected to provide patient care for 31 patients. It literally CAN’T be done. I was lucky to get vital signs done and meal trays passed. I had a few nurses with a helpful attitude, but the others just wanted me to do my job. One even had the nerve to ask me if I had emptied her foley’s. I just looked at her and walked away. I was dog tired after that day. Normal patient load for me is 16 patients and I still have a hard time getting everything done with that load. I hope and pray that when I get my license, I rememeber my techs and how important they are to me getting my job done. They can make or break you.

I hope you get your techs back soon. Proper patient care can’t be done without proper staff! Hang in there.

by: kimmyk

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:16:01 +0000

I think you should’ve sent the unedited version. LOL.
Keep your chin up May. I will send good vibes and thoughts your way that in 2007 she does something to lighten your load so you can do more of what you need to do without so much stress. Keep you chin up!