Survey: With the current nursing shortage, do you feel that patient care is compromis

Mijourney · May 16, 2001

Hi. With the current shortage, I'm not able to give as much time and attention to my patients in the home health arena as I was say around five to ten years ago. With managed care, I have to plan my visits meticulously well and be in and out of the home and discharging the patient with the blink of an eye. I find that my telephone counseling has increased because I'm not able to do as many home visits as I had done in the past. I do not get compensated for this. I've experienced increased paperwork in the last year so this along with the aforementioned has contributed to care decreased below my usual standards.

sharann, BSN, RN · May 16, 2001

How could short staffing NOT affect how we care for our patients? The interesting thing that I have come to discover is that the larger crisis is not a lack of nurses,but an underutilization of existing nurses which in turn CREATES a shortage.It is the reason I'm leaving my current job.The hospital has nurses willing to work,they are just calling them off or not calling them at all if they can get away w/it.

I hope more respond to the survey although it's like preaching to the converted!

Thanks Brian :)

RNLaura · May 16, 2001

Last year I didn't believe there was a nursing shortage. I believed that employers just wouldn't give salaries/benefits so no nurses filled open positions. We had a few nurses take positions, complete orientation, then find full-time positions elsewhere. This year I see that there is a nursing shortage.

I also recall a topic of discussion at a staff meeting last year "...so while you and your CNA care for your 14 :eek: patients...". Thank God the census does not permit that very often.

Care is greatly compromised with the revolving door. New grads are hired, oriented, and then leave. At a meeting recently a Nursing Supervisor reported that it takes about five years to reach maturity in your nursing. There are days when I look at the Staff Assignment book and :eek: ! One seasoned RN with 3 new LPN Grads and 35-40 patients.

I hate to admit it, but there are some nights you see a patient only 2 or 3 times.

Anyone have the dream where it is end of shift and you realize that a patient was never assigned to a nurse? That dream is not a reality at present because I know at least the CNA will have seen him/her.

randomnamees · May 16, 2001

Here in MN, we are close to a big nursing strike. Last week, I heard a talking head from some hospital association make a public statement to the effect that although there is a shortage, it is not affecting patient care and I thought…. what a load of crap :)

Do they actually think that the public is going to believe that? It's ridiculous

:rolleyes:

P_RN, ADN, RN · May 16, 2001

Last time I

Ted · May 16, 2001

Our small 5 bed CCU/ICU is down 4 full-time nurses. The rest of us is working overtime shifts to help fill the schedule gaps. Tonight, I just admitted an Upper GI bleed . . . luckily stable and currently not vomiting the coffee ground emesis he was at home. This will make three patients I'm taking care of by myself. There are no other nurses available to work with me tonight except for my nurse manager who is "on call".

Fortunately, for the patients, they're realitvely stable. I actually think I can manage it myself knowing that there're nurses just outside this unit to help me if needed. However, there is (as there always is in the healthcare field) a potential for something disasterous to happen. What if someone crashes on the med-surg floor and on our happy little unit at the same time?!?! There certainly isn't enough help with this scenerio with me being by myself. Can't draw water from a dry well! :eek:

Yes . . . the nursing shortage is compromising patient safety as well as the existing nurse's sanity.

Ted

plumrn, BSN, RN · May 16, 2001

:eek: P_RN,with 15 pts,9 of which were fresh postops,there is no way you could do what those pts needed.I'm sure they all had IV's,pgbks,needed pain meds,needed to be turned,coughed and deep breathed,dangled,walked etc.,etc.,etc. Let me guess,it didn't all get done did it?

And I'm sure your charting was terrible.Just enough to get by,right? Doesn't it make you lose sleep thinking about how a year from now you could get served papers,you're being sued and your charting was such that you will be sunk.And you won't remember that that was that night with the terrible staffing and the high acuity pts.Oh,wait,you'll remember. Because this is how staffing is ALL the time now.No family member of mine will ever be in the hospital without a family member staying with them 24hrs/day.I'm a nurse and I know how it is in our hospitals today.It scares me to death.

[ May 15, 2001: Message edited by: plumrn ]

Lisamulti · May 16, 2001

Originally posted by bshort:
This months survey question:
With the current nursing shortage, do you feel that patient care is compromised at your facility?
Please take a minute to answer our yes or no survey at the bottom of the allnurses.com homepage
Please reply to this post and give us your more detailed responses.

:mad: :confused: Imagine not having enough food for the family--does it affect them? Their growth, their emotion, their mortality? The nursing shortage definitely is affecting every facility---The bottom line is -FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT--we need to take care of our selves, esp. the nursing homes. People who are very rich can pay for private care, the rest of america can't. No one in government cares until it happens to them. That is why we should have a part of our taxes put toward hospital and facilty personnell wages., do not create more tax. Cut something else out--there are many RIDICULOUS studies done by the government--use that money. Pay nurses and cna's what they're worth, and the shortage will disappear. fed and state should pay a portion of wages---mandatory. Its discusting to see this lack of good care to human beings. :) feel better now--venting----

codebluechic, ASN, RN · May 16, 2001

Some night I leave discouraged because I wasn't able to do the teaching or extra care for my pts. Some nights I leave wondering how everyone made it through alive because the staffing was just plain dangerous. We are short at least 5 FT nurses and the staff that come from the agency are usually not able to care for a fresh heart.

fergus51 · May 16, 2001

Even when staffing ratios are good some nurses won't take the time to do the extras that they b*tch they never have time to do.

We are in the middle of an overtime ban so elective surgeries have been cut. We have about half the number of patients than normal and nurses are sitting at the nursing station rather than giving backrubs or talking to the patients. I gave a woman a backrub (been on bedrest for almost 6 weeks, can only lay on her back for long periods, has a LOT of pain) and she hasn't had one from a single RN or LPN on the floor. The only people doing this for her are students. It's sad that even when the ratios are low some won't take advantage of it.

Ectopy · May 17, 2001

In an effort to stave off the union, our unit did reduce patient loads to 4-6 on days and 5-7 on nights. HOWEVER, on any given day, each of 6 nurses has at least one VRE and/or MRSA precaution patient and often as not they each have one OR MORE destructively confused, postop patient. To complicate things further, we have two LVAD patients awaiting heart transplant. Their nurses can't go into the precaution rooms. I don't know if this is a temporary trend or if nursing is just going to get harder and more complicated. Seems like you gain a little ground and then slide back down the hill. :rolleyes: