over at our hospital.
For some reason patient traffic never slowed down after cold and flu season was over. I think we had about a week of quiet days, and then it was right back up to stacking patients up like cordwood and six-hour waits in the waiting room.
We've lost five night-shift nurses and a few day-shift nurses. My shift (11:30-12) is down to four of us (and we need at least six or seven to manage). Management is begging us to do overtime, to sign up with the agency...and are refusing to accommodate schedule requests.
They posted three jobs yesterday. Three. And due to the orientation process, we won't have them working full time for at least three months after they're hired.
It's 12-hour days of just putting your head down and slogging through the messes, filling out protests of assignment for the union (which has heard us and has been sending reps to catalog complaints for upcoming contract negotiations), and dealing with ambulance after ambulance and boarding patients in the ED.
And I got punched in the chest by a drunk las night just as I was ready to walk out the door. GAH!
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14 comments:
Been there, done that. IT SUCKS!
Just remember to take care of yourself.
Ah, fille folle qui joue si bien de la guitare! One thing that La Belle Bianca Castafiore has come to very much admire in all of you infirmières, it is your dedication to your work despite ridiculous conditions. Did you give zee drunk man a little taptaptap on zee head? Bon courage! Et merci! (Somehow, La Belle Bianca knows that you have the open mind to the foreign language -- poor infirmière K, she does not allow the language of love... la pauvre.) So yes, take the measure of courage to keep nursing, and the public, we thank you.
I think you're problem is growing everywhere in healthcare. Nurses are by far hit the worst.
At our itty bitty "hospital" they are down to one nurse and one tech overnight from 1700-0600. Sure, with 3-4 pts thats no big deal, but when they actually get someone in the ED they end up calling us in to help them cover their assess--and as much as I don't mind helping, the county isn't getting paid by the itty bitty but owned by huge conglomorate hospital for our services, so inevitably it will end and they will be screwed.
We had this same problem. Skip the nursing hierarchy and the union and go right to the VP or President of the hospital. Go to where the money is. It worked for us! It's hard to ignore a folder full of unsafe staffing forms two inches thick with hundreds of complaints.
Wow - that place sounds like a sh** show! Hopefully they will raise pay or do something to make it more enticing to work there.
It does sound like it really sux to work there. Hopefully you all can find an arbitration route through the union, upper management, local media, or something that can help!
And I suppose that you would still be in trouble if you waited until you were off the clock and returned the favor to your punch drunk friend, huh?
Yeah, thought so....
bummer!
;o) Laura
GG, so sorry to hear we're not alone at our hospital. Hope things get better for you. I work on a med/surg tele floor, but it has felt like ICU or stepdown for the last 6 months, except our ratio is anywhere from 6-9 patients per RN, not 1-2! We are all about to walk over and check in to the psych facility on campus. To make matters worse, we are a floor with a good reputation, so all the docs want their patients to go to us! I feel like the patients are getting sicker, fatter, and more obnoxious. Or maybe I just need a break! Hope things improve for you, humor helps. We discussed the need for a standing order for ativan or versed for all annoying patients and families. You know the ones who don't care you have a patient down the hall in resp distress, they need apple juice STAT!
I'm feeling you with the whole poor morale issue, we are having a similar issue ourselves (but nowhere near as bad)
We, too have started to lose some nurses; at least our management has noticed, and is at least trying to figure out why (of course, they don't ask us..)
Try and hang in there...
You should at least tell the story of the drunk guy. It's a pretty obnoxious story about obnoxious guys.
Our Morale sucks too and I am in L&D. We are suppose to be the happy part of the hospital. NOt so happy when Mom's and babies die thou.
We are short staffed and they have known that for a while. I think the admins just don't give a shit. Really I mean with Jcaho to fawn over who has time to help your staff with morale?
Punch back, self defense.
You could always have the patient arrested, just as I do when my crazy students try to beat me!
If you file charges with the police, that is documentation that the union would be able to use to highlight the staffing problems. you have access to the patient information through the hospital. If they do not want to release it, the police can subpoena it. The harder the hospital makes it for you to follow through on this, the easier it is for the union to make the hospital look bad in negotiations and in the media.
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