[RN4NICU]

Originally Posted by NoCrumping

I agree...... if they keep getting non nurses to do our jobs, sooner or later they will learn that they dont need a 20 something dollar an hour nurse to do it, and WE will be phased out..... just something to think about

Thing is, they have already tried this and learned that they DO need a 20 something dollar an hour nurse to do it because RNs have assessment skills that UAPs do not. Mortality and morbidity rates skyrocketed when RNs were laid off and replaced with UAPs.

[pickledpepperRN]

Originally Posted by RN4NICU

Thing is, they have already tried this and learned that they DO need a 20 something dollar an hour nurse to do it because RNs have assessment skills that UAPs do not. Mortality and morbidity rates skyrocketed when RNs were laid off and replaced with UAPs.

For those who haven't read it I have attached the Linda Aiken study from JAMA.

[MissPiggy]

I don't think for a minute they are going to hire extra med-techs and keep the nurses at the current level. There plan is to hire cheaper med-techs and use less nurses, mark my word on that one.

I'm with you on THAT one, Tweety... they just try to make it sound good, as if they are attempting to help us out, but who would bear the ultimate responsibility? Us, of course. This sounds like when the docs took it upon themselves to train UAPs to undercut us nurses... thanks, but no thanks! We don't need their help.

[Tony35NYC]

Would the hospital assume legal responsibility if a tech gave an oral med and the pt aspirates, or pushes an IV med at the wrong rate, or if a required pre-administration assessment isn't done before the med was given, or if the med was simply the wrong med (pharmacy sometimes screws things up)? Or is this being done under the nurse's license?

If I were the RN I would not want a tech giving meds to my patients if I would be held accountable when something goes wrong. I don't know about this one. Its too dangerous for the patient. No offense to anyone who is a med tech but there are just too many things that can go wrong.

[cheerfuldoer]

I remember reading a quote once that Florence Nightingale wrote regarding nursing going backwards if we fail to continue to make one progress after another. We are going backwards in nursing -- back when the docs were "the healers" and their "helpers" were women who fetched what the docs wanted. The women didn't need college degrees........just common sense. It's still a man's world, and women are still being utilized in that mindset. Sad, but from what I've witnessed in nursing the past eighteen years....we're going backwards........way back to the 1800s and beyond.

[RN4NICU]

Originally Posted by Tony35NYC

A question



Would the hospital assume legal responsibility if a tech gave an oral med and the pt aspirates, or pushes an IV med at the wrong rate, or if a required pre-administration assessment isn't done before the med was given, or if the med was simply the wrong med (pharmacy sometimes screws things up)? Or is this being done under the nurse's license?

It is done under the nurses license. The RN is ultimately responsible for all matters concerning patient care. Anything that the RN does not personally do is a delegated task (bath, VS, meds given by an MA, etc). Delegation of tasks (even if directed to do so by administration) is a nursing judgement and does not release the nurse from liability or the responsibility of making sure that the task is done right.

[mattsmom81]

Originally Posted by NoCrumping

I agree...... if they keep getting non nurses to do our jobs, sooner or later they will learn that they dont need a 20 something dollar an hour nurse to do it, and WE will be phased out..... just something to think about

They always will need a few of us around to absorb the liability...as mentioned previously, the facility would never assume liability. And in too many places the nurses ARE accepting positions where they are supervising and delegating to more UAPs and less licensed staff. I will never work that way.

What is will take is nurses saying 'NO', sticking together, and lobbying for nurse patient ratios.(as Cali has done)

[wjf00]

Originally Posted by NoCrumping

I agree...... if they keep getting non nurses to do our jobs, sooner or later they will learn that they dont need a 20 something dollar an hour nurse to do it, and WE will be phased out..... just something to think about

I don't think the facilities will ever phase out the licenses. They need them to sign off on everything the unlicensed personel do. Kinda takes the responsibility off the facility. My question is what the h*** makes someone sign something they didn't witness or actually do themselves? I would never sign off someone elses work unless I was right there to verify. Now they pay me to stand there and verify rather than actually do the work. Well that saves no money. I refuse to sign off on LVN's assessments at my own facility. Let them fire me, my signature means something. Otherwise they can get the guy Pete Rose hired to forge his signature on those bats he sold on QVC.

[Candidnt]

I follow what i believe is the general consensus; that the whole idea of having med techs dispense oral meds is not a good idea. it's also been said that we need more licensed personnel, not more UAP's. Nothing could be further from the truth. To get us to that point though, nursing needs to address some of its own internal issues, which is a whole other discussion in itself. Hospitals and health care organizations need to do the same thing. Until then, we're just going to continue to be overworked, overburdened, and burned out by a system that is in complete disarray.

[callbabe]

Originally Posted by stevielynn

It is all in the way you spin a story . . . . yeah, they are really trying to help us out.

You can take facts and spin them a certain way and make the story sound any way you want.

Be careful when reading anything.

steph

You are twisted. I have been a nurse for a very long time. and I have seen our nursing duties delagated to other people that are not qualified. Just be careful you do not give all of yours away.