[psychnurse1998]

Originally Posted by caliotter3

I worked in a situation where agency nurses were being utilized. Regular staff were quitting due to the poor standards. I was not surprised to observe the lack of cooperation and even outright hostility shown the agency nurses and CNAs. I went out of my way to help these people. The others did not. As far as I was concerned, most of the staff were just cutting their noses off to spite their faces. I really don't know what they think they were accomplishing by running off agency nurses. But it just goes to show one how bad the place was becoming. The agency nurses who refused to come back after one or two shifts were wise to protect their licenses.

Thanks, glad someone has experience something similar to me. One place I worked, I was running late on my meds and treatments. I got by,
and even got called to return, but I refused assignment to protect my license. Sometimes people want to help but cant. And sometimes people do help.

But as others have posted it takes a special nurse to jump into a totally new facility and feel safe doing it. I guess I am not that special nurse. I guess this is the reason regular staff would not be willing to help, they probably expect you to not need much assistance.

[denicu]

Originally Posted by kinghill

Yeah I can definitely agree this one instance had some spin put on it about the fact that it was an "agency nurse". Like it says right in the article...

"Little research has been done comparing agency nurses and staff nurses on quality and errors."

It would be interesting to see some research done though. From the research I've done online, patients are pretty much in the dark as far as choosing a hospital in regards to quality of service. Lately I wonder how many other deaths occur from negligence and are never publicized. My aunt is an RN at a nearby hospital so I take her advice about the hospitals around here.

Actually Linda Aiken who did the BSN vs AD research -"pt had better outcome with BSN graduates" also did a research on temp/agency nurse vs staff and reports there are no differences in nursing care . I have been doing agency nursing for the last 6 years and the change from staffing is the best decision I have made in my nursing career-better pay, schedule etc. But it is important to me that whatever hospital i am assigned to work - its in my best interest to know the policies and procedures of that hospital. I am proud to say my nursing care is the same-no difference as a agency or staff nurse. I have seen poor nursing care given by both staff and agency nurses.

[calliesue]

I cannot see how this has anything to do with agency nurses.
It is sad, but it does make feel justified in my policy.
No one in my family stays in the hospital alone.
Okay , so yes I do have control issues, but people make mistakes and are more careful about what they are doing if someone is watching.
Also I can help do things for my mom to free up staff, like toilet her, get her water etc.
and I know her history and can see changes that might not be noticed by nurses who do not know her, and are overworked.

[psychnurse1998]

Originally Posted by calliesue

I cannot see how this has anything to do with agency nurses.
It is sad, but it does make feel justified in my policy.
No one in my family stays in the hospital alone.
Okay , so yes I do have control issues, but people make mistakes and are more careful about what they are doing if someone is watching.
Also I can help do things for my mom to free up staff, like toilet her, get her water etc.
and I know her history and can see changes that might not be noticed by nurses who do not know her, and are overworked.

Callie we did the same thing for my mom...we have a large family so we always has 2 of us round the clock. That allowed staff to help someone else without a family, or that had family at work. We werent the only ones as we saw other family members doing the same thing.

[JessieRN]

Originally Posted by psychnurse1998

Callie we did the same thing for my mom...we have a large family so we always has 2 of us round the clock. That allowed staff to help someone else without a family, or that had family at work. We werent the only ones as we saw other family members doing the same thing.

Same here with our family. I was shocked when I started working in a hosiptal and discovered that everyone didn't do that!

[psychnurse1998]

Originally Posted by JessieRN

Same here with our family. I was shocked when I started working in a hosiptal and discovered that everyone didn't do that!

Jessie we were there one week, before someone from nursing came up to greet us. Nursing staff seem so depressed/ exhausted looking more like impending casualities. One Xray tech rolling his machine down the hall, did stop his machine long enough to say good morning. One of few staff members not walking down the hall looking at the floor.

[Valerie Salva]

Originally Posted by kinghill

Just horrible. What is the solution to prevent this kind of stuff from happening?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...85,print.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Lawsuit over man's death puts use of agency nurses in spotlight
Part-timer blamed in death

BY BOB LaMENDOLA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 10, 2008

A patient's death after falling from his bed in a Plantation emergency room has raised questions about a common practice of hospitals hiring outside, fill-in nurses on a regular basis.

Critics of the practice, including nurses' groups and some industry officials, say medical care for patients may suffer when hospitals rely too heavily on short-term, temporary nurses who may not know a facility's system, patients, personnel or building as well as staff nurses.

Seems this Bob LaMendola doesn't know what he's talikng about. According to one of the famous Linda Aiken studies- having agency and temp nurses in a facility increases quality of care and pt outcomes!

"There is an article in the November issue of Nursing 2007 that states, "After controlling for adequacy of staffing and resources, higher levels of temporary nurses were associated with lower levels of adverse events." The source for the article was "Aiken LH, et al, Supplemental nurse staffing in hospitals and quality of care. Journal of Nursing Administration, July/August 2007. The article appears on page 33 of the magazine."

http://psnet.ahrq.gov/resource.aspx?resourceID=5804

[MollyDee82]

As a travel nurse I know that it can be hard to adjust to a new facility- but putting bed rails up and putting the bed in a low position is universal. This nurse was truely negligent and should not be practicing nursing if she can't even remember something as simple as putting the bed rails up. Isn't this something we should have all learned the first day of nursing school??? I feel like this nurse is giving travelers a bad name!! Believe me not all travelers are bad

[bollweevil]

Originally Posted by RN1989

Hospitals that utilize agency nurses routinely have system problems ocurring that have nothing to do with the competency of an agency nurse. There are good and bad agency nurses just as there are good and bad regular staff nurses. It just happened to be convenient to blame it on an agency nurse and to try to spread the damages around so that both the hospital and the agency gets hit up for money. Too bad everyone believes that agency nurses are the problem instead of overall poor working conditions that cause the need for agency nurses in the first place. Sure with I knew what to do to fix the problem.

I concur with your diagnosis. And we also know how to correct the problem. Have nurses run Nursing Service and do away with insurers and administrators and managers who care only about the money. Go back to the days when we had proper work loads, when aides did what nurses told them to do, and when we had time to think straight, take a necessary break, and not busy ourselves with too much paperwork and with running a hotel instead of a hospital. Proper working conditions and proper pay will fill up empty nursing positions quicker than you can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

[bollweevil]

[quote=calliesue;2717246]I cannot see how this has anything to do with agency nurses.
It is sad, but it does make feel justified in my policy.
No one in my family stays in the hospital alone.
Okay , so yes I do have control issues, but people make mistakes and are more careful about what they are doing if someone is watching.
Also I can help do things for my mom to free up staff, like toilet her, get her water etc.
and I know her history and can see changes that might not be noticed by nurses who do not know her, and are overworked.
[quote]

That is ideal. Some people, though, have no family or their family has to work or are otherwise tied down with little kids, their own sickness, whatever. Or the relationships in the family are not right.