Phasing out Unit Clerks??? - Page 2

Hospitals are getting rid of as many staff people as they can. Getting rid of units clerks is one of their first moves. Nursing is getting harder and harder for the ones that are left. Not sure where this all will end, but I don't think it will be pretty. The next time a doc yells at you just tell him you were cleaning poop and had to wash your hands first, came to the phone as fast as you could.
Maybe if the doc's have to keep waiting they will yell for more staff

Good god you're kidding!! Every secretary I've worked with is always busy up to his/her neck and they do SO much to help patient satisfaction! They have all been excellent at their jobs and I have been very grateful for their expertise.

By the way, this past week was Administrative Professionals Week. I hope some of you took the time to thank your secretaries. I know I did....but the sad thing is that it ended up making them notice how little management thought of them because they weren't otherwise acknowledged.

We are starting the physician order entry here soon, and our clerks are being "retrained" to take on new responsibilities. I'm interested to see how their job role will change. I love our secretaries! They really can make or break a night on the unit. They are the glue that keeps the pieces together some days!

We have physician order entry that started about a year ago. Our secretaries were worried they were to be phased out, but that has not happened, thankfully! They are busy with phones, lights, hunting down records from out of facility, etc.
I'm a charge nurse that does not take pt's. However, I do all the discharges and admit med recs, so I'm busy at the desk along side the secretary. When she goes to lunch, I'm trying to answer two phones, call lights and put out fires. God forbid we need to transfer a pt and I would have to do all the paperwork. I think I would jump off a cliff!

It truly boggles my mind that a hospital would let go their secretaries. I think the physicians needs to raise a big stink!

Today, I was low censused for the remainder of my shift. Why is it that they pressure the charge nurse to get rid of ancillary personnel when there aren't enough patients on the floor? Even 14 patients can create more than enough work. It sucks that I had to leave for the remainder of my 3-11 shift because that means the charge nurse has no one at the desk. It sucks for me as a secretary currently, and it's not going to get better when I'm finally a nurse. One day I will be a charge nurse hanging in the wind with no bloody secretary!

We even cover for each other if one of us uses the bathroom, lol. She won't leave until I'm done with a discharge. The moment both of us left, you would know the place would explode with V tach on the monitor, phones ringing off the hook, vocera screaming at me and God knows what else! lol.

LPNs are taking the place of unit clerks. They can enter med orders, answer call lights, and do nursing stuff in a pinch.