Name a stupid policy/idea your facility thought would fly

[tokmom]

A former facility thought they could multi task the housekeepers by having them be lab techs. If they were in a room cleaning, they could drop their mops and get a few vials of blood for us. That lasted about a month before it was thankfully stopped.

I remember watching them learn to draw blood. They were given a 30 min tutorial on a rubber arm.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

I got nothing on the cleaning crew doing lab draws, but:

The CEO just put out a memo that he wants to put hometowns on all RN badges. You'd think he just told them to all stick needles in their eyes from the reaction.

Why hometowns?:icon_roll

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

Sounds like a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, or Disney. Will all the RNs be referred to as "cast members"?

[BostonTerrierLover, BSN, RN]

Lol, I was born in Norway, but I am an in no way Norwegian (except by birth), and my ancestry goes back for centries in America. To work with me in Texas to North Carolina, or walking with me in New Orleans- you'd have no clue I am a closet Scandinavian. If I had to wear my hometown, Hardanger, Norway, I would get a lot of confused looks, because I am blonde/blue eyed lol! But, my southern accent would make them wonder if that was a joke.

[All4NursingRN]

Easy 6:1 nurse patient ratio. LMAO!!!

Yeah right most nights I average 10 patients at any given time. Those unsafe staffing sheets are like my best friends now.

[All4NursingRN]

You know what forget the housekeeper/phlebotomist story. I think this one takes the cake. It infuriates me just reading it.

I think the housekeeper/phlebotomist policy is going to be the winner... However I do have a "good" one to share. A certain hospital that I worked at for a short time stated that their nurses were perceived as "lazy" by the general public. To improve their image, the management decided that nurses (and nurse techs) were no longer allowed to sit down during their shift unless they were lucky enough to leave the floor for a lunch break (which almost never happened) or using the restroom.

The nurses' station was closed down and all the tables and chairs on the floors were removed, except for a single card table with one chair, a computer, and a phone for the secretary. The nurses were issued zone phones to carry, and portable computers with instructions to do all charting in the patients' rooms so that they and their visitors could "see you working". The nurses were also issued locater badges, to track were they went on the floor and how long they spent in each patient's room. (to make sure they weren't "sitting down being lazy somewhere") To add further insult: there was a room set aside for physicians to dictate and review their charts and sit down with tables chairs and computers, but it was only accessible with a physician's ID badge.

[Hygiene Queen]

I think along with hometown, they should have the last 4 digits of your SSN and your mother's maiden name...

...and the last time you had a bowel movement...

[Guest372004]

OMG!! How disrespectful can management get? Did they take chairs out of manager office?

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I think along with hometown, they should have the last 4 digits of your SSN and your mother's maiden name...

Heck, go ahead and put your facebook password on there too.

[armyicurn]

No, what she says is true. I still work for same facility. Here's another one: require OB scrub techs to be in the facility even when there are no labor patients, but without even getting on/call pay. I kid you not.

Hell no! If I was one of them, I will call the local news for wider coverage.

[ICU_JOSIE, MSN, RN]

This is the same facility that told us to clock out at the end of the shift and come back and finish charting. Having an hour OT was not uncommon. They did a lot of illegal crap

I used to work in a place like that.

[nurseclm]

I did not want you to think I was denigrating nurses today. I agree the their are more machines, more sick patients, etc. I am sorry so many people are unhappy with nursing. I know it is one of the most difficult professions. I see some of the above policies and I shake my head in amazement, sadness, humor, and facilities that have devalued nurses. Sorry to have upset some of you.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

My hospital had this brilliant idea that was going to save charge nurses so much time dealing with staffing. They invested in this robot technology that would call people and leave them annoying messages telling them how short-staffed they were. They sold it to us saying "you can select who to call that way people who are sleeping after a night shift won't get called or anything." Yup, I blocked the number that those calls came from after being called at 12pm on a Thursday with a message about staffing needs for that night. I had worked Wednesday night and was already scheduled to work Thursday night. They once sent out a message at 5am on a Saturday morning and it went out to everyone- including people who were at work. Several irate husbands called the floor shortly thereafter.

Not-so-surprisingly, this actually created more work for the charge nurses as no one felt compelled to come in with a robot calling them and then they'd end up live calling everyone anyway. And in another part of this brilliant idea, they didn't even give all the charge nurses access to use this stupid system.