Vanderbilt Medical Center to have nurses cleaning up

VANurse2010 · Sep 21, 2013

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!!

This lawsuit has nothing to do with the room cleaning baloney.

Mommy&RN, BSN, RN · Sep 22, 2013

The goal is to save money. The lawsuit will cost a bunch of money.

thenursemandy · Sep 22, 2013

These companies fire in bouts to stay under the radar...thinking they're so bright. I hope the stingy corporate jerks pay out.

CSARmedic · Sep 22, 2013

Guttercat, you are one of the very few people (nurses) I've come across that has a clue to what's going on in nursing:

Nurses are putting themselves out of business. The nursing profession does not have a rosy future and the administrators of Vanderbilt are giving you a very early view. Nursing has always and will always be viewed by the public and professionals as a (noble) blue collar profession irregardless of nursing's constant attempts to reinvent itself. ADN, BSN, MSN, PhD really doesn't mean squat to the beancounters. We have been and always will be a disposable resource. It's much easier to blame and fire a nurse than rebuild a faulty (medication) system. How many times has a pharmacist or MD been fired or reprimanded due to a serious med error?

Vanderbilt CEO is giving nurses a view into the future where nurses will be expected to clean thier patient rooms in addition to doing everything else while having to "earn" annual cost of living increases or raises. CNA's and MA's will be trained to take on additional roles and responsibilities all at the expense of a lessening RN workforce.

The band has started to play and the ship is sinking. And it's all of nursings fault. Thier inability to adapt to change, thier inability to confront management either with or without unions (in the typical non-confrontational way females do), and thier incessant screaming of patient safety concerns every time there are changes in the workplace have shown that nurses make easy pickings.

Scream and tell me off as much as you want but that won't change the fact that BSN's, MSN's and clinical specialists at Vanderbilt (and other hospitals) will be taking out the garbage and changing bed-sheets just like the environmental staff has done in the past.

The future is out there and it ain't looking good for nursing in the future.

Z71RN · Sep 22, 2013

wooh you are absolutely right!! I always get asked from other dept to do their jobs for them. nutrition comes to the icu, "tells me to find what % of meals is bed 8 eating in last 36hrs"....I tell them to look it up in the computer! resp therapy wants me to hold pressure after they do femoral abg stick for 5 ******* mins..i tell them to get their own staff to do it. Geez, I don't ask nutrition to start my ivs or give my meds out! I don't ask resp to wipe pt #10 stool smeared backside! everyone and every dept has their own jobs to do, meaning I cant do my job well if I have to do your also, and you cant perform well in yours if you have to do mine too.

Tnbelle56 · Sep 23, 2013

Also a good ploy to have staff quit and thusly avoid having to give layoff packages.

Tnbelle56 · Sep 23, 2013

Management thinks that if they get rid of the experienced nurses, AKA more "expensive" that they can hire the newer AKA "cheaper" nurses. But they don't understand that the newer nurses are different than we were. They will not buy the altruistic crap that was drilled into our heads beginning in nursing school. They will not get up and give a doctor her/his seat...or carry around a stack of charts behind him...or believe everything the doctor says is gospel....or take pennies for advanced degrees and experience. Not for long..... THAT IS WHEN YOU WILL SEE THEM FORM UNIONS just like the teachers did. That is when the hospitals will truly cringe. That is when the CFOs and CNOs will have to take drastic pay cuts, revamp hospital hierarchies, and listen to what nurses think would be cost effective and smart not a bunch of accountants.

Tnbelle56 · Sep 23, 2013

Sorry about the tirade, but that is what I feel.

CSARmedic · Sep 23, 2013

Management thinks that if they get rid of the experienced nurses, AKA more "expensive" that they can hire the newer AKA "cheaper" nurses.

CHEAPER nurse is all they care about! And that's all that matters. He who keeps the business (hospital) profitable is the King!

You don't get it - THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT NURSES! They don't care about Flo and her history, they daon't care about how many impressive acronyms you have after your last name or how many impressive degrees you hold. They REALLY don't care about how long you've been a nurse as long as you do what they say, when they say it, for the measly pay.

And because nurses typically refuse to understand that, the same as you don't, they will be more than willing to help nursing re-invent itself out of existence by hiring paramedics or MA's or whatever they can come up with.

But they don't understand that the newer nurses are different than we were. They will not buy the altruistic crap that was drilled into our heads beginning in nursing school.

You're right, they don't understand and they want too and don't have too. That's the point you're missing. THEY DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING! They are running a business and the bottom line is all that matters - even if they have to pay fines for cutting back in some areas. If they can make the numbers work they'll pay the fines and cut staff and lay off nurses and...

THAT IS WHEN YOU WILL SEE THEM FORM UNIONS just like the teachers did.

Where are those unions? Or at least unions that make a difference? The unions I see now are telling their members to wear red shirts and make red roses in solidarity when nurses are laid off. Yeah, I'm sure the managers and administrators are shaking in their boots.

Speaking of which, why didn't your generation create any (effective) unions? Why didn't you guys affiliate with the AFL-CIO? Those guys don't play around.

That is when the hospitals will truly cringe. That is when the CFOs and CNOs will have to take drastic pay cuts, revamp hospital hierarchies, and listen to what nurses think would be cost effective and smart not a bunch of accountants.

Yeah, right the CFO's are going to cringe when (if) nurses FINALLY organize and unionize. Or maybe they'll just fire the lot of them.

Times are tough (in healthcare) and only going to get worse. It's simply foolish to think that the "rights" and "authority" or nurses will take precedence over the bottom line.

CEO's have a responsibility to shareholders, the community, and patients to continue to provide a much needed service.

It's nurses fault that they've NEVER been able to grasp these edicts and see the world for what it really is.

itrust · Sep 24, 2013

Once a again, another nurse COMPLETELY misses the point. CHEAPER nurse is all they care about! And that's all that matters. He who keeps the business (hospital) profitable is the King!
You don't get it - THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT NURSES! They don't care about Flo and her history, they daon't care about how many impressive acronyms you have after your last name or how many impressive degrees you hold. They REALLY don't care about how long you've been a nurse as long as you do what they say, when they say it, for the measly pay.
And because nurses typically refuse to understand that, the same as you don't, they will be more than willing to help nursing re-invent itself out of existence by hiring paramedics or MA's or whatever they can come up with.
You're right, they don't understand and they want too and don't have too. That's the point you're missing. THEY DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING! They are running a business and the bottom line is all that matters - even if they have to pay fines for cutting back in some areas. If they can make the numbers work they'll pay the fines and cut staff and lay off nurses and...
Oh yeah? Don't put money on that...
Oh yeah? Where are those unions? Or at least unions that make a difference? The unions I see now are telling their members to wear red shirts and make red roses in solidarity when nurses are laid off. Yeah, I'm sure the managers and administrators are shaking in their boots.
Speaking of which, why didn't your generation create any (effective) unions? Why didn't you guys affiliate with the AFL-CIO? Those guys don't play around.
Yeah, right the CFO's are going to cringe when (if) nurses FINALLY organize and unionize. Or maybe they'll just fire the lot of them.
Times are tough (in healthcare) and only going to get worse. It's simply foolish to think that the "rights" and "authority" or nurses will take precedence over the bottom line.
CEO's have a responsibility to shareholders, the community, and patients to continue to provide a much needed service.
It's nurses fault that they've NEVER been able to grasp these edicts and see the world for what it really is.

Your post comes off as very hostile.

martymoose, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2013

^^^ I had to double check to see if I had wrote that , LOL

Yep, we have a license. It's perfect for the employers- they can treat us like crap, liabilities and all, and who gets the legal spanking-That's right- WE DO.

Tnbelle56 · Sep 24, 2013

Yes, hospitals are a business, and are run very inefficiently. Did I not say that they should consult the front line people for more cost saving measures? And fire the whole lot? Yeah right. No, poor customer service (nursing) equals no money. Hospital reimbursements are going to be more and more tied to patient satisfaction scores. This is as it should be. And the model of using a few RNs to supervise a bunch of MAs may have worked in more simpler times but will have a hard time succeeding in today's high tech atmosphere. More lawsuits equals less profitability. I have faith in the younger nurses we need to be mentoring. And, with the introduction of more and more men into the field and young women being taught to value themselves more, nurse attitudes are changing. No, I don't think the new nurses will take that much crap. The small town hospitals are being closed because they do not understand this, and have a mentality that nurses are a dime a dozen. Well, GOOD nurses are NOT a dime a dozen and utilization of them equals patient satisfaction equals more money equals hospitals staying open.