[brian]

The union representing registered nurses at St. John's Mercy Medical Center signed up volunteers Monday for round-the-clock picket duty, even as nurses hired to work in the event of a strike began arriving from around the country.

The hospital in Creve Coeur held several orientation sessions for the agency nurses. And United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 held three informational sessions to familiarize union nurses with acceptable picket line conduct and to offer names of companies seeking striking nurses for temporary jobs.


more: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/7579E7ACA2C6FB0D86256F6A00182855?OpenDocument&Head line=St.+John's+nurses+plan+strike

[CHATSDALE]

case in point nurse killian said that patient care is the reason for strike....if nurses stand together better care can be given patients

[oncbsnrn]

Originally Posted by CHATSDALE

case in point nurse killian said that patient care is the reason for strike....if nurses stand together better care can be given patients

I work at St. John's and patient care is not the issue. We have a wonderful reputation and excellent patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. In my opinion, union security is the issue. Nurse Killian is not the only RN at St. John's

[cheerfuldoer]

Originally Posted by oncbsnrn

I work at St. John's and patient care is not the issue. We have a wonderful reputation and excellent patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. In my opinion, union security is the issue. Nurse Killian is not the only RN at St. John's

The key issue to focus on IS safer patient care, and by providing safer patient care nurses need a work environment that takes that situation serious enough to make some much needed changes.

St. John's is not the only hospital in the world who has nurses who have the same point of view as Nurse Killian, and I commend her for taking a stand for what is ethically and morally right FOR the patients who DO suffer from the lack of staffing in today's hospitals. Nurses are NOT robots! Nurses are sometimes patients, too, and when we are "the patient", we see MORE clearly what our patients go through when they have to wait beyond reason for their pain medication, treatments, dressing changes, meal assist, ADL assist, healthcare teaching, answering their family members questions, and so forth.

SOMETHING needs to be changed in the way patient care is being handled! Nurses are overworked, underpaid, expected to have a dozen arms and legs that can take care of every patient assigned to them WITHOUT any "P.R" complaints from their patients!

So don't knock Nurse Killian for standing up for her profession. Join her and make a difference for the betterment of patient care EVERYWHERE!

Bravo Nurse Killian!!!

[oncbsnrn]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldoer

The key issue to focus on IS safer patient care, and by providing safer patient care nurses need a work environment that takes that situation serious enough to make some much needed changes.

So don't knock Nurse Killian for standing up for her profession. Join her and make a difference for the betterment of patient care EVERYWHERE!

Bravo Nurse Killian!!!

I am only trying to point out that nurse Killian is not talking for all the nurses at SJMMC. Her comments pertain to SJMMC and the patient care given there and I feel they are inaccurate. Are there days when things are not perfect and we are short staffed-of course-people call in, ER gets a rush, the usual stuff. But the majority of the time we, at SJMMC, have enough staff to deliver safe care to our patients. Yes, we might work our tails off, but unsafe-no! We complained we were short staffed. Administration brought in agency/travelers to supplement our own nurses (whose contracts, by the way, were allowed to expire as each area hired enough of its own nurses). So then, we decided to complain the travelers are paid more, take our hours ect.....seems some of us are not satisfied unless we are in turmoil or causing it.

[cheerfuldoer]

I respect your side of things where you work just as I respect Nurse Killian's side of things. It's not you against her or vice versa. It's not about either of you. It's about "The Patient Population" in every hospital across these United States we live and work in. It is because of "The Patients" that much overdo change has got to come.

What type of unit do you work on? Your username suggest to me that you work on Oncology. Is that still correct? Are you a Staff Nurse, or are you on the management side of the house?

If you work on a unit where the nurses are assigned MORE THAN five patients each -- regardless of the shift, then you are working under unsafe conditions that could legally cost you your hard earned nursing license, or worse, as you care for your patients. It is my personal and professional belief that four patients per nurse should be the law, but five is SOMETIMES do-able based on the hospital's so-called acuity system (which I think is never utilized the way it should be)

Have you (or any close family member of yours) ever been a patient in a hospital before? If so, did you ever call for your nurse only to have him or her take too long to bring you your pain medication, assist you up to the bathroom, or do a dressing change, or............??? I certainly have.

I was a patient MORE than a dozen times BEFORE I became a nurse. I never understood what on earth took my nurse so long to answer my call light, especially when I was in so much pain I wanted to die rather than go on suffering without my pain medication. Now that I'm on the other side of the hospital bed caring for patients, I totally understand!

I hurt for my patients....all five, six, and yes...sometimes seven of them when they do not get to have the amount of quality time they need under my care because of having to take too many patients. I don't know about you, but I only came to Earth with two arms and two legs attached to one body with one head.......so I can't possibly be in all those patients rooms, speak to their family members "now" before they start yelling "P.R. issues" at the management, answer the doctor's phone calls at the desk, and deal with all the other ancillary departments who are involved with my five to six patients who need to speak with me....not to mention the patients whose doctors have told them they are "discharged to home" and have to wait and wait and wait because I can't get there fast enough to do their discharge teaching. " More P.R. issues"!

It is sad and very spoiled of today's people to live in an "I want it now" mind-frame, but that is what keeps patients and their family members on edge when they have to wait and wait and wait for the nurse, and the nurse can only be with one patient at a time.

In years past (yeah...I'm one of those 'seasoned nurses'), I remember visiting hours that allowed for nurses to perform patient care. I remember being able to give my patients more one on one attention, backrubs at night or on the evening shifts I would sometimes work. I remember being able to do one on one pre and post op teaching with my patients, and having the authority to politely usher family members and visiting friends out of the room while I performed care for my patients without them screaming "P.R. issues" as they exited the room. Nurses today have lost that autonomy completely based on the "customer is always right" rule. NOT!!! Lawsuits have increased in hospitals because no one steps up to the plate and stops the insanity going on inside those walls where nurses catch hell because the tail is now wagging the dog instead of the dog being trusted to do what is best for their patients while UNDER their nursing license any given shift.

Boy! Stuff like this gets me pretty riled up! Forgive me, but I did NOT become a nurse to be abused and discounted as if I am nothing more than "a robot" who "caters" instead of "cares".........Yes, there is a big difference.

While I may not be "pro union", I am most definitely 100% PRO giving the best care possible to each of my patients as if they are my only patient. Very difficult to do in today's hospitals.

And if any doctor's are reading this, stop telling your patients things that their nurse is going to do that you aren't going to stick around and carry through yourself. You add to YOUR patients frustrations when the reality of the situation is they have to WAIT and WAIT and WAIT for their nurse to come and carry out their treatment plan, their discharge instructions, and so forth................much more to say, but I need a cooling off period now.

[oncbsnrn]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldoer

I respect your side of things where you work just as I respect Nurse Killian's side of things. It's not you against her or vice versa. It's not about either of you. It's about "The Patient Population" in every hospital across these United States we live and work in. It is because of "The Patients" that much overdo change has got to come.

What type of unit do you work on? Your username suggest to me that you work on Oncology. Is that still correct? Are you a Staff Nurse, or are you on the management side of the house?

If you work on a unit where the nurses are assigned MORE THAN five patients each -- regardless of the shift, then you are working under unsafe conditions that could legally cost you your hard earned nursing license, or worse, as you care for your patients. It is my personal and professional belief that four patients per nurse should be the law, but five is SOMETIMES do-able based on the hospital's so-called acuity system (which I think is never utilized the way it should be)

Have you (or any close family member of yours) ever been a patient in a hospital before? If so, did you ever call for your nurse only to have him or her take too long to bring you your pain medication, assist you up to the bathroom, or do a dressing change, or............??? I certainly have.

I was a patient MORE than a dozen times BEFORE I became a nurse. I never understood what on earth took my nurse so long to answer my call light, especially when I was in so much pain I wanted to die rather than go on suffering without my pain medication. Now that I'm on the other side of the hospital bed caring for patients, I totally understand!

I hurt for my patients....all five, six, and yes...sometimes seven of them when they do not get to have the amount of quality time they need under my care because of having to take too many patients. I don't know about you, but I only came to Earth with two arms and two legs attached to one body with one head.......so I can't possibly be in all those patients rooms, speak to their family members "now" before they start yelling "P.R. issues" at the management, answer the doctor's phone calls at the desk, and deal with all the other ancillary departments who are involved with my five to six patients who need to speak with me....not to mention the patients whose doctors have told them they are "discharged to home" and have to wait and wait and wait because I can't get there fast enough to do their discharge teaching. " More P.R. issues"!

It is sad and very spoiled of today's people to live in an "I want it now" mind-frame, but that is what keeps patients and their family members on edge when they have to wait and wait and wait for the nurse, and the nurse can only be with one patient at a time.

In years past (yeah...I'm one of those 'seasoned nurses'), I remember visiting hours that allowed for nurses to perform patient care. I remember being able to give my patients more one on one attention, backrubs at night or on the evening shifts I would sometimes work. I remember being able to do one on one pre and post op teaching with my patients, and having the authority to politely usher family members and visiting friends out of the room while I performed care for my patients without them screaming "P.R. issues" as they exited the room. Nurses today have lost that autonomy completely based on the "customer is always right" rule. NOT!!! Lawsuits have increased in hospitals because no one steps up to the plate and stops the insanity going on inside those walls where nurses catch hell because the tail is now wagging the dog instead of the dog being trusted to do what is best for their patients while UNDER their nursing license any given shift.

Boy! Stuff like this gets me pretty riled up! Forgive me, but I did NOT become a nurse to be abused and discounted as if I am nothing more than "a robot" who "caters" instead of "cares".........Yes, there is a big difference.

While I may not be "pro union", I am most definitely 100% PRO giving the best care possible to each of my patients as if they are my only patient. Very difficult to do in today's hospitals.

And if any doctor's are reading this, stop telling your patients things that their nurse is going to do that you aren't going to stick around and carry through yourself. You add to YOUR patients frustrations when the reality of the situation is they have to WAIT and WAIT and WAIT for their nurse to come and carry out their treatment plan, their discharge instructions, and so forth................much more to say, but I need a cooling off period now.

ONC is orthopaedic nurse certified...everyone always thinks it's oncology! I do med/surg float now,but have also worked in management. I'm thankful for the broader perspective a varied background has given me.

I'm not familiar with the Calif. mandated nurse/patient ratio's. However, I have always believed in staffing by acuity-if an accurate, validated acuity system is in place and it's followed. Because we deal with humans, not machines, it is so difficult to staff for the "unkown" PE's, MI's, codes ect. I have had shifts when I could care for 6 patients with a tech, appropriately. On the otherhand, I've had a team of 4 ready to make me pull my hair out! I believe our collective nursing energy needs to used to promote staffing by acuity and towards the development of highly accurate, evidence-based, nursing acuity systems. We need to be able to show why we need more nurses at the bedside to be taken seriously-you know-give the number crunchers the numbers they want. We can push a proposal much further with strong data than with "I feel..I want...I'm busy"

You sound really frustrated with your working conditions. Hope it get's better and keep your focus!

[CHATSDALE]

the nursing shortage is going to get worse before it gets better...when the baby boomers stop nursing and become patients themselves it is going to be rough to try and find enough people to fill the highly skillled positions...you will see more of too high pt/nurse ratios...till those who are overworked find different nursing postions or leave nursing all together i hope that we all stay healthy

[cheerfuldoer]

Originally Posted by oncbsnrn

ONC is orthopaedic nurse certified...everyone always thinks it's oncology! I do med/surg float now,but have also worked in management. I'm thankful for the broader perspective a varied background has given me..........

You sound really frustrated with your working conditions. Hope it get's better and keep your focus!

Thanks for the clarificaton of what your username stands for.

I, too, have a varied background in nursing. I find it helps me a great deal as a nurse, especially when I'm floated to other units -- which I don't mind doing at all since my nursing background consist of travel nursing, agency, civilian and military hospital nursing. My skills make me more marketable that way.

Yes, sometimes I do get frustrated with the way nursing is today versus how well I enjoyed it years ago. It is tough to see a good thing go sour (I'm referring to nursing then versus nursing now).

I have worked at hospitals that I have a great deal of respect for, and some that need to be shut down for serious restructuring. It's the "good hospital experiences" that keep me in nursing. I can only pray for the ones that are hopeless.