So I am working at a Retirement Home and its going well, I love being the Nurse on the floor, but sometimes they will pull me and say I am gonna be a screener today to screen essential visitors, or one day I will be the Wound Care Nurse, or I will be helping out the Director of Care with their duties, or one time they were so desperate I was folding laundry cause they could not find anyone for the laundry staff. One time I was also a porter, porting Residents to different rooms in the building for infection control.
I don't want to sound mean and say no, but I feel like I lose my dignity as a Nurse. I don't wanna tell people that I screen or that I porter people, I want to just do Nursing related stuff.
I do get paid for all that stuff, but to me I feel like its a waste of my clinical skills. I can't just leave and find work since we are restricted to only 1 workplace at this time, and if I leave this job, its not guaranteed I will find work elsewhere.
I am full time there, but they did say that I will be working different jobs. Not sure if its just me complaining
I've seen nursing home Administrators do the laundry, pass out food trays, clean residents bathrooms, etc., etc. Healthcare "professionals" do what needs to be done when it needs to be done -- this is the role of a leader taking responsibility.
Nurses that "feel" their profession as a nurse is diminished or "disrespected" (whatever that means) when they are called upon to perform simple tasks that are usually performed by non licensed employees, don't have an understanding of "healthcare" team and leadership and should consider changing professions.
The nursing profession doesn't need more nurses that don't have leadership skills.
Unfortunately, the only time I saw admin pitch in was when the Joint Commission was around. After that, they were never seen on the floor again... (cue spooky music)
So I am working at a Retirement Home and its going well, I love being the Nurse on the floor, but sometimes they will pull me and say I am gonna be a screener today to screen essential visitors, or one day I will be the Wound Care Nurse, or I will be helping out the Director of Care with their duties, or one time they were so desperate I was folding laundry cause they could not find anyone for the laundry staff. One time I was also a porter, porting Residents to different rooms in the building for infection control.
I don't want to sound mean and say no, but I feel like I lose my dignity as a Nurse. I don't wanna tell people that I screen or that I porter people, I want to just do Nursing related stuff.
I do get paid for all that stuff, but to me I feel like its a waste of my clinical skills. I can't just leave and find work since we are restricted to only 1 workplace at this time, and if I leave this job, its not guaranteed I will find work elsewhere.
I am full time there, but they did say that I will be working different jobs. Not sure if its just me complaining
I wish I could do retirement homes but passing pills to 30 people seems impossible. Tried it one night then quit. Crush this, don't crush that LOL.
I disagree that the nurse should be doing the job of a laundry person. We didn't go to school and go through all the hell we went through to be told that we can do the duties of a non-skilled person. Would they tell the PT person or Dietician or Respiratory Therapist to do these types of jobs? If not then neither should the nurse be told to do them. It's demeaning.
There's a difference between doing duties that are on your unit such as passing out trays to the residents or helping them to the bathroom because the CNAs are busy than filling in for the laundry staff. Nope not going to do it! There are many other positions where it is OK to not do certain things because of your position, but when it comes to nursing we're supposed to do anything? When I see the doctor fold laundry then I'll think about it.
PT, RT, RD, and the physician services are all billed individually for their services. Not nursing - it gets lumped into room & board!
In LTC MDS documentation, care/billing is done by the minutes - I think the feds would object if the minutes were including laundry folding 101 services.
Hence, the difference.
Just as an aside, I'm doing my finances/paperwork post my emergency 2 hospitalizations/surgery from early May. Hosp #2 itemized/priced services, like med/surg supplies, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology studies, incl CT scan, EKG, RT/OT/PT. Hosp #1 additionally listed Intensive Care, oper room services, anesthesia, cardiac services, emerg room, pulm function, BLOOD ($6000 - I rec'd 2 units). And they showed Insurance pay't & my due.
NOWHERE WAS NURSING, HOUSEKEEPING, LAUNDRY, FOOD/MEALS listed.
Is it any small wonder that nsg tasks can include those other dept chores!!??!!
So when nursing becomes recognized as an independent professional service and those services are indiv costed out, our 'other duties as assigned' will continue to be 'lumped' into room & board - general classification! (Yes, that was one hospital's classification.)
I know. It is sickening the way the nursing "profession" isn't like other professions. At the same time we get into trouble when things don't go the way others think they should. I did not go to nursing school to become a glorified maid! I guess it also depends on what area of nursing one goes into. I'm sure an LTC nurse like me is more apt to do "maid" type things than say an informatics or forensic nurse.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
On 7/18/2020 at 6:39 PM, EKUGRAD said:
Sorry. wrong button.
I have been a RN for 44 years. CNA for 2 years before getting my LPN. Then 5 years later, BSN, 13 years later, MSN (Psych).
I have done all those jobs plus many more. I. always tried to do my best and learn the job well. I always looked for ways to improve efficiency. I spent 8 years as a Navy Nurse, Commissioned Officer (final rank, Lieutenant Commander). I learned that WE did what had to be done, and the most successful, enlisted and officer, were those that accepted the assignment and went at it. Every night the floor in my ICU was cleaned and polished. I ran a buffer many times, for an hour, so Hospital Corpsmen could have a break. The consideration for their value made my teams much more cohesive and efficient in our patient care . So, I fully call every job I do to contribute to the relief and restoration of my patients Nursing Practice.
Take the long view, the Big Picture. by helping keep your facility above water and functioning, you contribute to the mission of patient care. Imagine your patients being scattered to the wind if you shut down. Also, you're out of a job.
When I read your post I heard loud and clear you ARE a nurse, heart and soul. People say to me, "Oh, you work as a male nurse." I respectfully reply not "as a nurse ". I AM a nurse, heart and soul. Started helping my RN mother (Army Cadet Corps trained) at the county hospital when I was 13. Just got better and better as the years go by. Hang in there. Take an attitude of each and every assignment as an opportunity to grow and mature in your practice.
Quick aside.
Strangest job I ever had in my career. On Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Navy Base I was assigned temporarily as Medical Officer to The Tank Platoon! This is normally a Doctor assignment but the Navy had run out of GP's. I was CCRN, and EMT, and teaching classes in trauma response in my previous assignment. Once I acclimated to the tanker and Marine Corps culture my observation was we were all little boys with really great toys. We camped on the beach; took the tanks to the bluffs to the North and I got to participate. and shoot al those great weapons. Talk about team work. My Marines worked together as a single unit and smooth as a Swiss watch.
You never know what experiences await you. Keep your focus and devotion to you patients you have been honored to care for at some of the worst days of their lives. After 40-45 years, the memories of all the good you have done for your fellow man.
I once worked two weeks full time nights at a Navy hospital on a Maine base. I was an experienced critical care nurse and CCRN. My first surprise after putting on the badge I was given was people saluting me. Later I was told they probably didn't know I was a civilian.
One night I reported a change in a patients condition to the physician. He told me he would soon be there to put in a Swan Ganz catheter. I realized it was different equipment that I was not familiar with. Soon a Corpsman was there setting up and assisting that Doctor. I was impressed with his skill and bedside manner too. It was a good experience working in such a different system.
Regarding the topic For a few months our 300 bed community hospital had only TWO housekeepers from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. One was assigned to the ER the other to L&D. We med surg, tele, and critical care nurses worked with management and got the housekeeping closet keys available to nursing staff at night. What a blessing to be able to mop a floor instead of having to use towels or bath blankets!
It's typical for nurses to get floated around where I work, and for sure we sometimes do aide-level stuff like sitting with patients and doing their laundry. Lately, a lot of us have been recruited as screeners and covid testers. Personally, I enjoy moving around the hospital and doing different, easy stuff occasionally. However, if a facility is paying RN wages for this kind of work on the regular, they have issues with staffing and organization. I'd keep one eye on the door and update my resume, just in case.
I feel like I lose my dignity as a Nurse. I don't wanna tell people that I screen or that I porter people, I want to just do Nursing related stuff.
I do get paid for all that stuff, but to me I feel like its a waste of my clinical skills.
You can tell your friends what you like but if they think completing infections control procedures is beneath you, GET A GRIP
You need to reexamine what you think a nurse is and does. If all your nursing tasks were completed, charting completed etc. would you sit on your hands and idly watch others scramble to complete their work?
When I taught nursing students in a clinical setting and they had all their work done and were talking about last Saturday night, I would ask them to fill the medications carts with syringes and other supplies (a great way to learn where supplies were instead of waiting for when they need an an alcohol wipe, insulin syringe, U50 or U100) and I asked them to refill the patient teaching materials from the NCI and ACS in the hallway for patients and family (to see what patient teaching materials were available. Of course they grudgingly did it but I heard from instructors in the next semester the students told them they did not pay tuition to do tasks like that. I have seen nurses lazily walk by full garbage can full of used isolation supplies and ask "where's house keeping?" Laundry shute? What's that? I will just put these used linens on the chair or the leave on the bathroom floor. "Where is the CNA to take care of this?" I am from a time that we did consider the entire environment of the patient our responsibility. Do you want to lay in a bed and see trays from yesterday's meals sitting on the window sill? Hurry up and get a job where your dignity is never questioned!
I did not go to nursing school to become a glorified maid! I guess it also depends on what area of nursing one goes into. I'm sure an LTC nurse like me is more apt to do "maid" type things than say an informatics or forensic nurse.
And a "telenurse" doesn't have to do any maid work! I guess we have identified your future nursing job.
On 7/22/2020 at 3:47 PM, lorias said:
Nope not going to do it! There are many other positions where it is OK to not do certain things because of your position, but when it comes to nursing we're supposed to do anything? When I see the doctor fold laundry then I'll think about it.
Please take a look at your diploma again. You are not a doctor.
And from DLN14
Quote
If I spent 4+ years of hard work getting my BSN, I am NOT going to fold laundry. I am there to provide expert nursing care and to clinically take care of my patients.
and this: (Please speak for yourself in the future)
We didn't go to school and go through all the hell we went through to be told that we can do the duties of a non-skilled person. Would they tell the PT person or Dietician or Respiratory Therapist to do these types of jobs? If not then neither should the nurse be told to do them. It's demeaning.
And the Florence Nightingale award for the best attitude and reason for being a nurse is: ?
It's a TIE!
You can pick up your crown on the way out of the nursing lounge. Don't let the door hit your ____ on the way out!
lorias - I guess you're responding to me. LTC was my forte until my retirement. And yes, a jack of all trades we all become. Some of the tasks that I managed would curl toes, but NEVER in all my career, did I ever feel like a 'glorified maid'! Even with all those LOLs who told me 'they were paying my salary'.
Like most of the respondents here have said, the OCCASIONAL odd job is NO terrible BIG thing. But when it becomes more the norm because admin so chooses, then yes, it does become problematic.
And it becomes esp sad & disheartening when some nurses like indignantly feel 'out of their league/below their class' when doing some atypical tasks.
On 7/22/2020 at 5:55 PM, amoLucia said:
So when nursing becomes recognized as an independent professional service and those services are indiv costed out, our 'other duties as assigned' will continue to be 'lumped' into room & board - general classification! (Yes, that was one hospital's classification.)
From my previous post here, I quote myself as I STILL strongly believe this to be true. Unfortunately, I don't see it getting any better any time soon.
PS - I love the crowns! I have 2 tiaras that I did wear to work at times. My birthday and Halloween were my times to be royal.
If I spent 4+ years of hard work getting my BSN, I am NOT going to fold laundry. I am there to provide expert nursing care and to clinically take care of my patients.
If you continue to be the “yes-man” you are going to be walked all over.
Jedrnurse, BSN, RN
2,776 Posts
Unfortunately, the only time I saw admin pitch in was when the Joint Commission was around. After that, they were never seen on the floor again... (cue spooky music)