[Joe,RN]

Something I forgot to tell you! Would you believe that some of the patient care was done by the other patients assigned to the unit? I saw a man shaving another and assumed he was a friend or relative. He was a patient assigned to the next bed! Such kindness, brings tears of compassion to my eyes, such neglect of care, brings tears of anger. Just goes to show you, vets are indeed special people.

[eliza]

joe, you're right about your observations. When I first worked at a VA and saw 5 beds / 5 pts in room , I thought how inthe world can they get their rest. But, fortunately it usually works out for the best. Pt's, (men) (vets) more often than not 'take care of one another'- willingly. They watch out for each other in a way I've never experienced in 14 years of public nursing, nor do we see this with women...???interesting, huh?
back to staffing methodology; the va system is so poor but makes the 'numbers look good', wheras when i worked in public, the staffing methodology reflected pt care better, however the 'staffing'numbers were more deficient.