Updated
Mar 27, 2009 at 09:08 PM by anononurse
I've been a pre-op/pacu RN for 10 yrs & just started a new job. At the hospital I came from we pre-op RNs would each get our own patients ready- sometimes 2 at a time, & it worked very efficiently & each RN was responsible for her own patients. Here at my new job, the nurses flock on every patient and one will check paperwork, another will start the IV, another take vitals- still another give a med-- I find this all very confusing & unnecessary. For one thing, if I'm prepping the patient, then I will do the assessment, sign my name to the chart, start the IV & give the pre-op meds. But the way they do things here- someone else may be signing their name to MY assessment- I have a problem w/this. I'm not talking about emergent cases, those are prepped ASAP of course, I'm talking about routine elective surgeries. It's making me crazy- they do everything in 'groups'- even all take lunch together- which is very inefficient since one RN can easily prep a couple patients while another goes to eat- there are days I don't eat until 3 p.m.!! --Am I behind the times & this is the way it's done now?? Whatever happened to continuity? Another thing they do is 'stack' patients- meaning even if a surgeon is running an hour behind, they'll still admit ALL his patients as they come in- which clogs things up. I'm not seeing any 'benefit' to doing things this way- they are not as busy as the hospital I came from & things here just don't run as smoothly & it's partly due to their system. I am very confident in my skills & tho I welcome extra hands when needed, I don't feel this method is working well. As a patient I would find this confusing. Am I being unreasonable? If so, please enlighten me as to how to adapt!
Nursing News