I work in a sauna!!

[MsPebbles]

Okay, not really, but it sure feels like it! My unit is incredibly busy and lately we've been super short-staffed, which means we are running around non-stop. As a tech, I can have up to 18 demanding patients, many of whom are constantly cold and want us to turn the thermostats up in their rooms. This I understand and can deal with...after all, they are sick and I want them to be comfortable. After I've dripped a bucket of sweat in their room I find sweet relief from the cooler air in the hallways.

However, there's one unit secretary I work with who rarely moves from her seat and always gets cold. Every time I work with her she turns up every thermostat to 90 degrees (including the bathrooms, locker room and break room). As I'm running around like a mad woman I often feel like I'm going to pass out from heat stroke. I sweetly and diplomatically mentioned this to her and asked if we could compromise and lower the temp to a reasonable (but still too warm for me) temp, to which she agreed, only to find her turning it back up again less than an hour later. She's been there a long time and I've only been there a few months, so I don't want to create any problems, especially since others I've talked to feel the same as me but choose to just deal with it.

Any suggestions? I would even consider some sort of discreet personal cooling system if there is such a thing. I dread going into work when she's going to be there because I know I'll be miserable. It's absolute agony.

[lub dub]

I worked for years with women who were pre-, peri-, or post-menopausal. Therefore, it was a steady diet of hot flashes and cold flashes. Being a man, I learned to never comment on the room temperature...

[SierraBravo]

This is hilarious that there is a post about this as I struggle with this constantly on my unit. In the dead of summer the thermostats will regularly be set to 80* and the interior temp with be in the mid to high 70's. I turn them down to 70 but the very next day they are back up again. Sure, we can't do anything about patients that like to keep their rooms at 80* in the middle of summer, but the general unit being that warm is simply unreasonable. I agree, the secretaries are usually stationed in a chair for 8 hours and don't move nearly as much as the nurses.

[richardgecko]

We had this issue. This coworker would put the heat on 90 in empty rooms and leave the doors open to warm up the place...mind you she's wearing a full bubble coat in May.

The problem is that the general hospital funk would become so overwhelming in the heat that many of us would become nauseated. I mean the unit's pretty funky when it's cold but its especially stank when its 90 degrees. We made sure to bring it to her attention and shed just wear another layer.

[suanna]

Every unit I've worked on has a group of these inconsiderate toads thay insist that since they are "cold" of "hot" they have the right to set the thermostat at whatever temprature that makes them happy without regard for the needs of thier peers or the patients. My suggestion- anyone caught adjusting the thermostat below 68F or above 74F needs to be procsecuted for patient abuse and have thier licence revoked. At the very least, it should be grounds for immediate termination since it shows they are willing to abuse patients when they find it to thier advantage. They can go now home and set the temp to whatever is thier hearts desire. I know this sounds harsh- but why is it OK to overlook this gross selfishness to the point of making patients and all the other staff miserable?

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

In the state where I live, temperature settings in facilities are determined by law and must be no warmer than 76 degrees. Employees are forbidden to touch them, and indeed they are locked in most places where I've worked.

I do empathize with those who can't get warm enough to be comfortable; menopause must've knocked out my personal thermostat, because the cold sets in around early October and I don't thaw out till July most years. I can have three layers of clothing and two pair of socks on and STILL be chilly. So I feel bad for that poor secretary, even though she is wrong to go around adjusting the temperatures to meet HER needs.

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

There are a few that I deal with that do the *exact* same thing. I am running, sweating - look at the thermostat and it's set to 78. People, that's just nuts. One night we were having a thermostat battle and I finally told her to go get a damned blanket out of the warmer, the rest of us were working and needed to NOT pass out. I mean, come on.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I am really surprised at how many of you work in a place where you can adjust the thermostats at will! Only thermostats in resident rooms can be adjusted where I work, all community areas are temp controlled by maintenance by a control panel that staff other than maintenance has no access to.