Why does Nursing put up with short staffing?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am wanting to get a little feedback as to why Nursing (in general) allows short staffing to be an issue? I am on our research committee at work and would like to get an idea of where to take my project. I would like to find an answer to the problem and not just more complaints. Thanks in advance for any insight.

Specializes in MED SURGE.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.73.IS:

Here is the overview of S.73

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/pdf/Billlist.pdf

And here is the list of nursing- related proposals currently before the 110th Congress.

Thank you soooo much!!!

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I for one NEVER allow short staffing. I refuse the assignment, if in my opinion it is unsafe. This is a relatively rare occurance, but I have done it. Patient advocacy sometimes requires ruffling managements feathers a little.

i have checked into this - and in wisconsin if you refuse an assignment you can be held for abandonment- if you do not call in in the proper amt of time ( most places it is 4 hours or 2 hours) the facility can claim abandonment on th nurse. we cant just walk in see our assignmnt and say nope wont take it its not safe. unfortunate for sure.

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I agree with your statement! I am wanting to find out the root problem as to why this exist at all. I want to make a positive change for nursing, but until I can uncover the reasons that create the problem it can't be fixed.

I have co-workers who blame it on just being women. I find that personally offending. Whether man or woman, as Nurses we face this together. I am just trying to understand why this problem exist at all. Where did it go from being about the patient and doing what is right for them, to the bottom dollar? When did the essence of Nursing get lost in healthcare?

Just wondering.

Thank you for giving me insight into what I am trying to understand.

in my view when for profit corporations took over - in our area very few private run or non profit organizations are as bad as for profit organization run pplaces. governemnet run in our area are not lacking in staff very much at all either.

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So why don't we do that? It seems that everyone in the realm of direct medical care IS an independent contractor except nurses and CNAs. How come we can't all become independent and bill for our services the way others do? Just wondering. I guess that's a topic for another thread.

some states do have it - you can get paid but its not to work in hospital or anywheer but in the homes- wisconsin is one

- http://www.professionalhomecareproviders.com/

dont know other states- there are like 4 or 5 of them- you get a provider number and get paid by medicare etc- just athought for some- i know i am considering it :)

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.
i have checked into this - and in wisconsin if you refuse an assignment you can be held for abandonment- if you do not call in in the proper amt of time ( most places it is 4 hours or 2 hours) the facility can claim abandonment on th nurse. we cant just walk in see our assignmnt and say nope wont take it its not safe. unfortunate for sure.

http://www.mbon.org/main.php?v=norm&p=0&c=practice/abandonment.html

It does look like your state leaves the term "abandonment" very open to interpretation. Y'all need a better state nurses association to back you up and make sure the board makes that issue a little clearer LOL.

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If there was one thing, and only one thing, I could get nurses to do, collectively and without reserve, it would be to make them stay home when they're sick.

Nothing bothers me more than hearing these stories of going in sick because of this or that or some other guilt-ridden justification.

For god sakes, stay home when you're sick! If there is no staff to take your place, it's not your fault, nor is it your problem.

STOP PERPETUATING THE NURSE-AS-MARTYR SYNDROME!!!!!!!!!

and maybe, just maybe, they'll get the message and staff properly.

But please stop this throw-myself-on-a-sharp-stick behavior!

i did not catch anyone protraying themselves as martyrs for going to work sick - just pointing out there is a difference in personalities - thise who are willing to work at all costs short of death( ive done my share as has many - wearing a mask and gloves and excessive plus handwashing lol) vs those who call in to gho shopping or just cause they are "sick of the job" - which truly wish i had the guts to do just that ( in esssencce i guess i have - after quitting my old job and before starting my new i took 2 weeks off - yeah is me clap clap lol. there is NO job out there that would put up with as many call ins as some of the staff do for this job- they are not going to staff any better with or without the call ins -

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That's always a great situation...

They'll pay someone from an agency who has no allegiance or dedication or history to the facility rather than pay someone who has been there years the bonus to work extra. Really gives me that fluffy warm feeling.

Sooner or later, you'll understand that...until you start writing letters and standing up politically for what you know is right, you are warm widget on a spread sheet.

and as soon as you start wrting em up and getting politically involved - which i love to do ( they call me a ummmmm - "bridge burner" i guess cause i dont cover my ass and kiss thiers) you will soon find yourself wiped off that spread sheet and maybe even blackballed. i refuse to give up even when forced out - i just pray god knows what he is doing with my life cause as much s i open my mouth nothing gets done excpet loosing my job or getting pushed out one way or another.......

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Specializes in critical care.

where i am working right now, there's a big issue on short staffing.we are the only hospital in the valley that have a staffing-ratio policy as stated in our union contract BUT the management is trying to tweak it by trying to use acuity though our union contract says management needs to sit down w/ union & bargain first. we are even told by management that if we don't take the extra patient, we will be "let go" by the company.i feel that we are being threatened into taking an extra patient but we're waiting to see what's going to happen next...anyway, i'm leaving this company soon.

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I am currently a nurse in a recovery room at a surgery center. We have experienced a large turnover due to the PRN pool they have established. The PRN nurses make several more dollars an hour, do not have the added assignments of keeping the center running and can work if and when they want. When they are working PRN in other centers around town, we resort to using the Agency nurses, which is even more money and the same issues of not having the added wrokload of daily assignments. How are we as nurses who are employeed by hospitals and corporations going to encourage them to have retention strategies and how do we make management understand our perils. They think if we have a "warm body" everything should be OK with the work load. I am in graduate school and I am doing my research on the use of agency(prn) staff and the retention of RNS. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

well - take my old place- i worked prn- but i only worked for them - i worked when i wanted AROUND what they had available ( not that i ever had any trouble gettying the number of hors i wanted) yet they deciede after 2 yrs they need to require me to work THEIR schedule and so they lost a up to 12 - 14 day a month nurse - thier loss.................... i was more than a warm body- knew the facility and poeple and rules- i knew the workload and voiced very loudly in regards to how they treated thier regular staff- guess they decided if they made me regular id quit whining but instead i just quit.

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i'm not sure where you get your information. but, here's a reality for you. if you go to work and clock on, then turn around and leave, it is considered abandioning your patients. which is against the law. which means that you loose your job and probably your license, which in turn makes staffing even shorter.

i don't know about anyone else, but when my bosses know they are short for my shift, they let me clock in, then they tell me that i'll be working the full 126 patients alone.

around here they can take you for abandonment if you dont show up or call in within ThIEr GUIDELINES ( BE IT 2 OR 4 hours depening where you work) sorry for caps - anyhow- check each state cause if they want to get to the nit and gritty theyd have the fuel....

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I have nothing to contribute to your question but, more questions to add.

Why do nurses put up with shift and weekend diff and overtime and so on rather than to ask for an outright Salary? Just give me a salary, either a straight hourly one that is decent or a yearly one then do not throw nickles and dimes at me for ot or shift diff.

Gen

when i worked at the hospital long ago they tried that - salering everyone- in small town egypt where staffing goes from zero fpr a week to a milion for a week - it was not safe for us as they had in there essentially they had us having to work a lot of extra hours in one week cause we "owed them" from weeks before- that was not so hot on anyones list lol.

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