Thermostat hogs

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Feb 9, 2002

I think that it is easier to wear a heavy sweater than to strip naked but 50 degrees is a little much. In our hospital the patients have a separate control in each room.

We've had thermostat wars also though going up and down freeze/melt within an hour. I bring a sweater and put it on/take it off prn as when someone is so egotistical that they have to have THEIR way I'd just as soon not tangle with them.

In the nursery is the worst- up to 80 degrees "for the babies" and you can't convince them that babies will not die at average room temp. Arghhhhh

donmurray · Feb 9, 2002

I should know this, as a health and safety rep. The UK has a minimum work temp of.........64f, I think...for sedentary work... as set out in the "Offices, Shops, and Railway Premises Act, 1963" I kid you not! There are exceptions of course, like cold stores.

I work in Elderly care, and it is often in the mid to high 70's. Phew!

NurseDennie, BSN, RN · Feb 9, 2002

Don't you hate it when the person who has the most extreme preference for temperature is in charge of the thermostat????

Love

Dennie

Agnus · Feb 9, 2002

You can actually control the temp!! It seems any place I have worked no matter where you set the thermostat there are parts of the building that are too cold and parts that are too warm. Sometimes it seems like thermostats are fake put there to just placate those who would adjust it. I've seen lockes in some buildings on the thermostats. Maby that is an answer?

Personally, I think the patient should be first priority. when it comes to temp issues.

mario_ragucci · Feb 9, 2002

LOL - thermostat wars - LOL - that is pretty funny :-) I know what you mean (still grinning and laughing) I can just imagine folks dressed in parkas and folks dressed in shorts doing battle with each other indoors to gain control of the thermostat, like some Rollerball movie :-(

I know people feel differently, and I think it has something to do with BMR. I know I am 98.7 F. Some other folks; I'm not so sure. Like, in my class today, I was comfortable with jeans and a shirt, but some folks were wearing their winter coats in the class, some where even wearing gloves and hats, in the class, shivering with coffee in hands. Thats okay with me, because I'd rather them wear heavy coats and stuff rather than having them turn the heat way up to the point where I start sweating. It's not natural to go from cold to hot to cold...that taxes the h**l out of your immune.sys. I don't like to see folks all cold and uncomfortable either. For the health of others, I agree with the 64F temp.

Remember in some offices you see folks who soak their legs with personal infra-red systems? I wish I could help them feel warm. Maybe they are reptiles (?) :-)

CindyJRN · Feb 10, 2002

OK, as someone of the shall we say "Plus size female" group, more often than not I am hot. Our patient rooms are individually controlled but our station is not. No, I do not turn the thermostat to 50, but try to keep it evenly controlled at 70-72 degrees. I know that our ancient,tempermental unit freezes up below this setting. It is easier to put on a sweater than to nurse "nekkid"

prmenrs, RN · Feb 10, 2002

I think it's called menopause!!

In the nursery, if there is an incubator near the thermostats, we have a much worse time w/the "weather".

NurseDennie, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2002

I used to be always too warm.

Now I'm peri-menopausal, I'm always COLD!!!

I think that a patient care situation is very different, but at home or at an office, the temp should be comfortable for the one who is warmest.

The rest of us can put on a sweater. Or in my case, two sweaters, a sweatshirt, a lap blanket, and a hat.

I just tried to post this and it wouldn't. I'll try it again.

Love

Dennie

RNforLongTime · Feb 11, 2002

I have the opposite problem. I work night shift on a 30 bed cardiac telemetry/respiratory unit. The tele clerk, a lady in her early 60's with IDDM and Arthritis, is always cold. So, at night, as soon as she walks in the door, cranks the heat up in the nurses station as high as it will go! I have to suffer all night!!! She is sitting all night and sits in a chair wrapped up in a blanket as she is so cold. Then at about 5:30 am she'll turn the heat back down. When the unit clerk arrives at 7am, first thing she says is that it's so hot up here!

The tele clerk claims that the head nurse yelled at her for wearing sweatshirts to work so that is why she HAS to turn the heat up. When I sked her politely to leave the heat alone she said that she had been here a LOT longer than me and will do as she pleases. So, I get stuck sweating my a$$ off! I can't take any clothing off! I just don't think that it is fair that I have to suffer!

thisnurse · Feb 11, 2002

i didnt realize that the one with the most senority gets to be comfortable..lol

i dont touch the thermostat. wish everyone else would leave it alone too. was in the conference room one day and one of the mgrs says..."whats wrong with you people...are you all menopausal or what? everyone is complaining that they are roasting but its cold" and she turns up the heat.

so im thinking...oh well if YOU are cold then the rest of us dont mind sweating..just so YOU are comfortable. funniest part is that she never even goes out on the unit..lol

prmenrs, RN · Feb 11, 2002

I'm pretty much over that menopause thing, but I am on meds that make me sweat. So when I feel hot, I just assume it's only me and try to ignore it and just keep going. One of the volunteers gave me the cutest little battery powered fan that I use when I sitting down to feed a baby or chart. People laugh, but I'm over THAT, too. I steal the batteries from Respiratory Care w/o a moments guilt!!

I actually keep a hair dryer in my locker in case the sweating gets out of hand, then I go dry off. One day I must have looked just terible because the charge nurse came over and told me she'd called maintanence to check on the heat and turn it down--I looked at her and said, You mean it's not just me??!!