Vanderbilt Medical Center to have nurses cleaning up

[DidiRN]

"Cleaning the room after the case, including pulling your trash and mopping the floor, are all infection-prevention strategies. And it's all nursing, and it's all surgical tech. You may not believe that, but even Florence Nightingale knew that was true," said a hospital administrator to staff in a video obtained by the Channel 4 I-Team."

http://www.wsmv.com/story/23364976/vanderbilt-medical-center-to-have-nurses-cleaning-up

[wooh, BSN, RN]

If you ever wan to see management turn a room over feel free to shadow me for a day. I'm management and I have done it since day 1 and will continue to do so.

And seriously.... "Don't be pawned into being a team player"? That's about as selfish a comment as I have ever heard. I'm not pin to let env services struggle so I can chill for an extra 5 minutes. Get over ourselves.

Unless it's cleaning toilets?

How is THAT any less selfish than we are for simply drawing our line in a different place?

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

Its all in the same bucket as the guilt trips about not wanting to come in on my days off. I am trading my time for the hospital's money. I am responsible for the 36 hours I agree to work each week. No more.

I work hard, and I more than earn my pay. TPTB can add all the duties they want, but I will prioritize and patient care will always come first - ahead of updating the whiteboards, filling out mobility logs and way before turning rooms. If I had time for more than actual patient care, then they would cut staffing even more...

[mshessle]

If you noticed, team player was in quotations. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a team player when it comes to my coworkers and helping others out, but this isn't about helping others, it's about completely doing another person's job. They have completely changed the definition of team player in order to exploit nurses.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Interesting to read the comments. The "Administrator's" comment in the article (addressing the staff), pulling out the old Flo Nightingale card, was a thinly veiled, intentional play to demoralize the nurses.I also agree with those here who state that this may be a one-two punch: get rid of a bunch of disgruntled RN's in one fell swoop by voluntary exits, and thereby avoid messier restructuring tactics like lay-off's and firings. Replace them with cheaper new grads (or those with 1-3 years experience).

But, I think there's a much bigger picture at stake over the long term. We're all so very concerned with nursing as being viewed as a respected "profession." While our attention is diverted, the profession itself is restructuring under our noses. In WA State, a major overhaul of the MA profession has been implemented. It now has several "tiers" at which the highest level includes IV and med administration. This is clearing the way for utilizing more MA's, and less RN's. I can easily see a day where there's an RN or two overseeing a floor, while the MA's do most of the direct patient care that RN's were responsible for.

Take dialysis, for example. When I started twenty years ago, there was about a 50/50 split between care technicians and RN's performing the treatments. Now, as Tech scope of practice under law has expanded, there is one or two RN's overseeing an entire clinic while the direct patient care is mostly provided by the much less expensive techs.I'm much less concerned with cleaning a floor and a toilet, than where I see the nursing profession headed at large.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

It seems this Medical Center has ALOT more to worry about just now:

Vanderbilt Medical Center Accused of Massive Fraud

Medicare fraud, anyone?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Ohhhhh...the tangled web Vanderbilt weaves...smh.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Just saw this today too:

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/vanderbilt-medical-center-843013.html

So do more, with less, and do it well or get canned.

[Tnbelle56]

Let the CNO, Nurse Admnistration etc... clean the rooms

[Tnbelle56]

If the uppity-ups had to do this task....maybe they would stick up more for the nurses and much-needed housekeeping staff. Patients should boycott this hospital for their own safety. I think nurses should report this on consumer sites such as Angies List, etc... I know I would go elsewhere for my surgeries. Cleaning a C-Diff and MRSA room should be done with care and not "just what the patient sees". You can bet on it housekeeping will be cut to the bone and will not be able to do the rest. This is nauseating. I am a nurse of 30 years plus and have stripped rooms and taken out the garbage. This is a far cry from de-contaminating rooms. Today's nursing cannot be compared to times ago...and how many of those patients died?

[Mommy&RN, BSN, RN]

WSMV

http://www.wsmv.com/story/23485611/vanderbilt-hospital-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit

This will hurt right where the hospital tried to avoid.

[Mommy&RN, BSN, RN]

If the uppity-ups had to do this task....maybe they would stick up more for the nurses and much-needed housekeeping staff. Patients should boycott this hospital for their own safety. I think nurses should report this on consumer sites such as Angies List etc... I know I would go elsewhere for my surgeries. Cleaning a C-Diff and MRSA room should be done with care and not "just what the patient sees". You can bet on it housekeeping will be cut to the bone and will not be able to do the rest. This is nauseating. I am a nurse of 30 years plus and have stripped rooms and taken out the garbage. This is a far cry from de-contaminating rooms. Today's nursing cannot be compared to times ago...and how many of those patients died?[/quote']

You can't stop in the middle of a terminal clean to , I don't know, let's say you other pt is in pain, needs bathroom, etc. You aren't supposed to answer your phone in an "infectious" room. The terminal clean is a important process that needs to be handled without interruption. It has to be something that the housekeepers do systematicly. Otherwise things would be forgotten.

I have no problem at all pulling trash, dirty linen, etc. to keep my rooms tidy.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

WSMV

www.wsmv.com/story/23485611/vanderbilt-hospital-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit

This will hurt right where the hospital tried to avoid.

Surprise! Wonder how long until a patient dies from some horrible infection they got from their nurse who was contaminated from cleaning rooms. That lawsuit is going to really hurt!!