i read paul duke's feb. 2 my turn with great interest ("if er nurses crash, will patients follow?"). as an emergency-room nurse in a trauma center, i, too, feel the pressures of providing safe and compassionate care to my many patients. the increase in volume of patients and decrease in staffing is one of the most frustrating parts of this profession. there is no greater feeling of helplessness than to have to prioritize by who might die first, rather than being able to provide quality care to all patients. that said, i think the public has a responsibility to educate itself as health-care recipients. coming to the er because of a sore throat that has been going on for 15 minutes (which i had to deal with), a low-grade fever for two hours or other non- emergent complaints is frustrating for nurses and costs millions of dollars each year in er supplies and resources. by misusing health care, we are taking away from the sickest people--and that could have deadly consequences.
s. nelson
virginia beach, va.
as a medical resident in a new york city teaching hospital, i experience firsthand the understaffing that paul duke describes. but duke, who seems compassionate and dedicated, is not the typical face of the nursing shortage that i see. instead of working harder, the nurses i observe often take advantage of the situation, using staffing shortages as an excuse to not perform basic responsibilities like drawing blood, recording vital signs or administering pain medication, no matter how many patients they are taking care of. i have seen nurses sit around complaining about working too hard, or filling out "protest of assignment" forms while patient call lights go ignored. it is easy for nurses to shrug and claim they are too busy to perform a task because they know they have job protection due to the nursing shortage and that there is a resident physician who will have no choice but to do it for them. for the doctors, there is no such thing as a protest of assignment, and certainly there is no overtime pay. picking up the slack for these nurses subtracts from time that could be spent on educational activities, and detracts from already limited patient-doctor interactions.
name withheld
new york, n.y.
did anyone catch the first article... it was written by a frustrated er nurse concerning issues that we are all facing. just got this weeks issue and was wandering if anyone would respond to it.. what about this residents response to the "lazy" "complaining" nurses?? funny how his name was withheld :angryfire huh?
