Anyone else working w/o needed supplies? short staffing? lack of support?

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Mar 17, 2006

I agree that it's patient neglect. You can either stay and fight (report them to the appropriate state departments and hope the investigation falls on a weekend night) or vote with your feet by refusing to work under such conditions.

Whatever you decide, best of luck. It's hard to work for a facility like that.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2006

My fist thought when reading the title was...this has got to be LTC.

This is a frequent occurance where I have worked. Who does the ordering? If it is a non nursing person, I see the problem already. How often are they doing it? Do they take into account the census shifts, change in needs of the residents..(more wounds means more dressing supplies)? Probably not. Or is this just order less..save money deal?

Who do you notify when your supplies are low before they run out? The person doing our ordering was just ordering off of our reminder notices and not actually checking the supply room, Duh!

Ohhh, I just rereead it....everyone knows about it! Do you have a back up pharmacy or supplier. (I think you have to?) Ordering from these places for emergency supplies cost tons more and will definatly put a dent in their budget;)

grinnurse, RN · Mar 17, 2006

OMG-this is not only happening at LTCs it happens on the hospital level as well. This past Wed. I had 2 TC pts that were both MRSA positive-one of sputum and one of wound with no PAPER TOWELS, GLOVES, or SOAP in the rooms at all. As a matter of fact, all of our pts rooms were out of gloves the weekend before when I worked we had to raid Day surgery for some gloves. None of the no slip socks (which we almost had a fall from this one). Many times we have had to use bedpans for wash basins, and the urine measuring cups for Icewater!!!!! And most of the time it's not b/c we have the supplies somewhere else, we flat don't have them period b/c the hosp hasn't paid the bill. Can't even tell you how many times the trash dumpsters outside have been over flowing b/c we were on credit hold to have it picked up!!

I refused to go back into the 2 MRSA pts rooms until they got basic supplies for me to be able to protect myself and the other patients that I was taking care of. I was so MAD that I called in for Thursday!! I never do that unless I am in diar straights either with kids or myself being sick, but I am just so tired of working under these conditions!!

I don't even really like to think about how short staffed we work. I really feel sorry for our Aides. Sometimes they have 20+pts to take care of and 5 nurses to answer to!! When it is like that I do all that I can for my pts b/c there is no way she can do all that.............I wouldn't blame her if she quit. What's worse about this is the new DON thinks this is how it should be!!!!! We are also not staffed as to the acuity of the pts. I have had up to 4 TC pts, all feeders with a total of 6 while the nurse at the other end of the floor have 5 walkie talkies....................go figure!! This another thing that I have spoken to with the new DON about!! Sincerely doubt that anything will change but I can hope can't I!!

OliveVinesRN · Mar 17, 2006

I'd just like to get some comments from anyone that continually runs out of supplies, i.e. cups, spoons, straws, briefs, wipes, etc. and management just seems to shrug. In particular on weekends, after management has left for the weekend, we seem to be left in a lurch. And yes.. ALL managers up to and including the executive director know this is happening on a continual basis.
Departmental managers that stay under their budget get bonuses, but seem to forget about the patients needs. To my way of thinking, this is patient neglect.
Also, when a State inspection is due, managers crawl out of the woodwork and magically appear on the floor passing out meal trays, speaking to patients and staff, answering call lights. They don't even know our names. Staff scheduling looks great on paper, but what about the call-ins or no-shows? That issue is never addressed.
How can one rectify the situation without risking loss of job?
Thanks....

No, thank YOU!!! I am so glad that you posted this. I recently quit a job related to the issues of never having essential supplies on the floor. One night this patient needed a supply that was very essential. First of all, the supervisor dragged her foot going to look for it. I had to page this broad twice. And i just so happened to find her running her mouth on another unit. I guess my needs were not important.

When she finally did answer her page, she went to get the supplies I needed only to come back and tell me that there were not any. I wanted to fall out and cry. The family was getting irate and upset at me. I had to stay, literally STAY in that man's room all night just to prove to them that I was doing all I could. That wasn't enough. And they had a right to be mad because the hospital should always have whatever the patient needs to be treated effectively. Heck, I was mad, too. And this was NOT a case of me going in to do something before I checked to see if we had to proper supplies. No, this was an unexpected thing that happened.

I was just fed up by then that I quit that job. I could no longer work where we didn't have the proper supplies to do our job effectively. That is not fair to the patients, that is not fair to us. I hope I sent the message loud and clear. And I was very upset with the way the supervisor handled the situation.