I wish they had to stay and watch the chaos

Published

Just once, I wish MDs had to stay and watch the chaos that ensues when you discharge 12-15 people at roughly the same time in one day. Oh yeah, all the discharges were put in about 4 hours before shift change, with most being completed by 30 minutes prior to shift change. Next shift walked into 10 "freshly cleaned" open rooms and 5 discharges waiting to leave. TOTAL chaos. Every nurse has 5-6 patients with everyone having multiple open rooms. Transfers, admissions from ED, direct admits from MDs were the name of the game for the next 5 hours. Throw in HS med passes, PRN pain meds, assessment needs, verifying ALL the new stuff that has to be done for transfers/admissions, as well as a few rapid responses while we are at it too. UGH! I WISH THEY HAD TO STAY TO WATCH TO SEE HOW WRONG IT IS TO CLEAR HALF THE FLOOR IN ONE SWOOP! Rant over.

Specializes in nursing education.
We had 2 patients readmitted to ICU because the discharge / medication instructions are so confusing. Administration doesn't seem to care.

I suggested to my one-up that our hospital's dc med list is confusing and buried in the dc instructions and couldn't this be improved? She said that there was a committee that had worked hard on it and it would be insulting to them if I suggested such a thing.

Yeah.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

WOW snarky, much? Why did this thread have to take a snarky turn?

I do feel for the OP, but I agree with those saying it is NOT the MD's faults. It's a system breakdown, and management/administration can solve it. Maybe you all (nurses) could put your heads together and come up with viable solutions and present them to management? If they are receptive, it may help. I wish you well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Oncology.

Are they downstaffing due to low census after all of these discharges? Is that why there's nurses with 6 patients getting hit with multiple admits?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care - Adult, Med Surg, Neuro.

Do you work where I do? It's not unusual for me to discharge 2 and get 2-3 as admissions or transfers. There is no way to provide excellent nursing care in these situations. The patients get what I can give and that's it. It's a crying shame.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I had no trouble reading her post. Since it seems you might be having some difficulty I will summarize it for you. She wants the doctors to stay around and see the chaos caused by discharging patients all at once. Not once in her original post did she offer any corrective solution. If you want to get the short summary just read the last line the OP put into all caps. Glad to help as always.

The OP was venting-no need for the snark from you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion