[interleukin]

My humble advice...let the director of nursing know that family members were witness to the chaos and/or near catastrophic event. Nothing--and I mean NOTHING--will move them faster than;
1. they are told of event and that it a direct cause of understaffing or other preventable issue (now they're accountable)
2. the public witnessed the event and were very upset.

Management hardly blinks when we tell them what's going on. Still, you need to tell them because they will, invariably, say "I never knew" if the shf and someone needs to be accountable. If the situation is truly dangerous, they will do something about because they know, that you know, and you must have the courage to speak TRUTH TO POWER.

When you speak Truth to Power the issue can be deflected for only so long before they will fry.

Why, because even in this cynical society, there is no more powerful tool than truth and only a certified fool or delusional personality will go toe-to-toe with truth and expect to prevail.

Write down the facts, be courageous. The people around you may jump ship but it is only because they do not have the guts or are simply too lazy to break with the pack. The masses are like that. Those who remain will be individuals you will be proud to call your colleagues.

Take a stand and you may stand alone. But it will be you who will spoken of as the one who had the foresight and courage to do the right thing.

[suanna]

A little off topic but related. The situation you describe is all too common. I don't see much of a nursing shortage in my area but I do see a shotrage of experienced nurses. That is fine for the hospital- new grads- low pay scale, lower health care costs, fewer demands for benifits, safety regulations, retirement options...One solution our union has used is to require a ratio of new grads (<1yr experience) to seasoned staff in the contract. This only applys to critical care areas and OR. The hospital has to make an offer to experienced RNs that will entice them to come to our facillity. I has only had partial sucess but it's better than nothing. I honestly don't think most hospital administrators (mahogany row- not unit managers) care if the patients get good care or not. If they could shave a dime off the budget by hiring chimpanzees to do the nurses job they would. The solution my be bigger than one nurse can fix- it may be time to join together with one voice. People who say unions are only there for the money are wrong- this is just one area that our union has striven to provide for safer patient care.

[kinghill]

The hospital should be shut down if it's just there to kill patients. Unfortunately nothing really will happen. The pt's family will probably get paid off from settlement and the whole thing will be swept under a carpet somewhere.

[interleukin]

"The pt's family will probably get paid off from settlement and the whole thing will be swept under a carpet somewhere."

Not if you have the guts to editorialize the incident should no real change take place.