Buying your own equipment?

No, absolutely not. You are now liable for any irregularities that results from use of that equipment, not to mention the fact that it effectively relieves them of their responsibility to provide it. I'd write a letter a week outlining the fact that you don't have xyz, and that is is needed, patient care is suffering, etc. You could send the same letter every week, lol. If after a few weeks you don't get a response I'd move of the chain of command and keep at it.

Under no circumstances would I assume the responsibility or liability for providing durable medical equipment. Not ever.

Whenever you need the equipment and it is not available you should write up an incident report and it should be written up on every patient you cannot adequately assess. I would also say you might start looking for another job.

No, absolutely not. You are now liable for any irregularities that results from use of that equipment, not to mention the fact that it effectively relieves them of their responsibility to provide it. I'd write a letter a week outlining the fact that you don't have xyz, and that is is needed, patient care is suffering, etc. You could send the same letter every week, lol. If after a few weeks you don't get a response I'd move of the chain of command and keep at it.

Under no circumstances would I assume the responsibility or liability for providing durable medical equipment. Not ever.

Absolutely agree (and didn't want to write the same general info :)). Once you bring your own stuff, if something happens that in any way effects patent care, you are the one who gets the blame for using unapproved equipment.

I agree that you shouldn't give in to your employers lack of equipment by buying things your employer should buy.

But the argument that you have increased liability is not really accurate, this issue came up where I work and was reviewed by both the hospital and Union's legal departments. I think most Nurses own their own stethoscope, and I've never heard it argued that Nurses should not use their own stethoscopes because it's legally reckless to do so. The equipment does need to be FDA approved for that purpose and maintained per manufacturers instructions and facility protocol. If you make your pulse ox at home at use it, then yes you are liable. But if you are using a device approved by the FDA (or other bodies depending on the device) for that purpose and maintained appropriately, you are no more liable than using facility owned equipment.

I agree that you shouldn't give in to your employers lack of equipment by buying things your employer should buy.

But the argument that you have increased liability is not really accurate, this issue came up where I work and was reviewed by both the hospital and Union's legal departments. I think most Nurses own their own stethoscope, and I've never heard it argued that Nurses should not use their own stethoscopes because it's legally reckless to do so. The equipment does need to be FDA approved for that purpose and maintained per manufacturers instructions and facility protocol. If you make your pulse ox at home at use it, then yes you are liable. But if you are using a device approved by the FDA for that purpose and maintained appropriately, you are no more liable than using facility owned equipment.

I think the difference is that stethoscopes are pretty standard individual property...a BP cuff or thermometer (with electronics that can malfunction) are a problem because of the ways they can fail. Kinda like my watch is a personal item- I don't have a hospital issued watch- but it's a 'known' individual's personal property.

One place I worked at absolutely forbade the use of electronic BP cuffs (thermometers weren't as big a deal)- especially the wrist models. Granted, this place thought that farting was a suable offense, but their reasoning was that if it's used in their facility, but not on their approved equipment list (or whatever) they would not back up a nurse who used them. A nurse COULD- but if something went wrong- she/he was on their own.

Please, do not give your employer the message that if they don't provide decent, working equipment, the nurses will just cave in on themselves and take up a collection.

Maybe a whispered word to a state inspector is in order.

Stethoscopes can also be electronic diagnostic equipment, and the findings can direct clinical decisions, so I'm still not sure what the difference is. This came up where I work due to personal pulse oximeters. Even the Union's lawyer (who gets paid to side with Nursing staff paranoia) didn't agree that using one's own pulse ox made any legal difference as long as the rules were followed.

Stethoscopes can also be electronic diagnostic equipment. This came up where I work due to personal pulse oximeters. Even the Union's lawyer (who gets paid to side with Nursing staff paranoia) didn't agree that using one's own pulse ox made any legal difference as long as the rules were followed.

Yeah- guess it all depends on the employer :)

Personally I wouldn't buy anything beyond a stethoscope. Depending on the facility, Doc's might have more influence. If I routinely didn't have access to a thermometer, I might call the Doc every time just to let them know the patient might have a temp, although I don't know for sure because we don't have thermometers. Even better, call your manager at home every night to let them know. Whatever your method, being aggressive and relentless should be a major aspect of it. It shouldn't take too many 2AM calls before you suddenly have new thermometers.

Personally I wouldn't buy anything beyond a stethoscope. Depending on the facility, Doc's might have more influence. If I routinely didn't have access to a thermometer, I might call the Doc every time just to let them know the patient might have a temp, although I don't know for sure because we don't have thermometers. Even better, call your manager at home every night to let them know. Whatever your method, being aggressive and relentless should be a major aspect of it. It shouldn't take too many 2AM calls before you suddenly have new thermometers.

Ok Playing devils advocate here :) ..What about weighing the legal risk of using your own equipment versus the legal risk of being unable to get a set of vitals in a timely manner when it counted. In the case of some 'sentinel' event occurring I do not believe it would be an acceptable excuse on your part to say 'we didn't have/couldn't find it/ it didn't work properly'.ect. They would want to know then what steps you took to fix the issue. Plus I bet all that time you spend hunting equipment takes your attention away from what is going on with your patients..their is lots of personal legal risk in that too.

Grrrrrrr Huge Gripe of mine!! All the money that floats around in healthcare, spent on dumb S@#$...you think they would see the vital sign equipment as a highly important expenditure. I have worked soooo many places where you could not locate a good blood pressure cuff to save your life!

I also own my own Pulse Ox. Guess what? Their have been several nights where I was thankful I had it as the other Pulse OX broke at 4am.

I did make sure that it was FDA approved and safe to use on peds and adults, and I kept the box/instructions.

Plus...despite the legal 'risk'....I would wonder how many nurses actually have ever been sued or lost their license for using their own equipment (good) equipment.

Personally, if shelling out a few bucks makes my workday easier (x40hours/week x 52weeks) then I have no problem doing that occasionally.