my manager is out on medical leave, and i got drafted to attend a management meeting for her. what an eye opener! there were a number of five-star management decisions made and communicated, but the one i'm referring to is the new lift policy. nursing staff must assess each patient for fall risk, and those with moderate or high risk for falls must be put on the fall protocol. that means that any patient at risk for falls who is not independent requires nursing help every time they are out of bed. if the patient weighs more than 25 pounds, nursing staff is not to attempt to lift them; we're to use a lift device. attempting to lift a patient who weights more than 25 pounds without a lift device is subject to disciplinary action up to and including losing your job. and here's the kicker -- there are only 5 antiquated lift devices in our 500 bed hospital . . . . and no money in the budget to acquire more.
so you're subject to disciplinary action if you attempt to get a patient weighing more than 25 pounds out of bed without a lift device. but there are no lift devices available nor are there plans to acquire them.
the scary thing is that management professed not to see the issue with that until it was vociferously pointed out to them during the meeting.
policy still goes into effect april 4. how stupid is that?!
