Chores

[Junebug14]

So I am working on a floor that for 65+ patients. We have 34 beds are almost always full and have 5-7 nurses and 3-4 techs a night. We get assigned "chores" like stocking med room, kitchen, emptying trash etc. However, we are a huge hospital, and have 24 hout housekeeping staff. Our unit manager also expects us the sweep and mop the floors. Tell me this isn't the norm. How infuritating it is to me when housekeeping is up by our elevators snacking, napping, amd socializing while we are doing their job! Please enlighten me on this. This is my first nursing job so I have no comparison.

[scuba nurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

They cannot pay me enough to mop floors, clean the kitchen, or empty trash....NOT MY JOB! I didn't go to nursing school to be a housekeeper! (I am not talking about if a patient spills their water on the floor, I would wipe that up).

I can see stocking med room, and checking crash cart. but otherwise, HELL NO!

If this is the norm in your facility, then they have huge issues. I can't believe your manager allows this to happen. I would go to the DON and ask what the policy is, this cannot be right. And if it is, I would be leaving.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

Our EVS staff complained to their manager that they were overwhelmed with their duties. So now, if I want the floor of my office swept or mopped or the garbage taken out, I have to do it myself. I also had to go out and buy a Swiffer mop, broom, and dustpan and request to be reimbursed. All EVS would provide was a roll of garbage bags. I love how other departments can complain about being overwhelmed and have duties taken away and put on others, but if Nursing staff complains, we're not "team players." Our manager is fully on-board with all of this, too.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

I do not mind getting trash out once in a while, especially, say, after unsuccessful code so that the things would be cleared up quicker and we would let the grieving family in. But if I would be told to mop floor, I'd walked outta there.

Med room/carts/shock cart/defibrillator/IV basket/wound care restocking are all nursing responsibilities all right. After all, it is our chance to make them comfortable to work with. But mopping floors?? No way, period.

[Purple_roses]

Our EVS staff complained to their manager that they were overwhelmed with their duties. So now if I want the floor of my office swept or mopped or the garbage taken out, I have to do it myself. I also had to go out and buy a Swiffer mop, broom, and dustpan and request to be reimbursed. All EVS would provide was a roll of garbage bags. I love how other departments can complain about being overwhelmed and have duties taken away and put on others, but if Nursing staff complains, we're not "team players." Our manager is fully on-board with all of this, too.[/quote']

I think it's so disrespectful. It isn't normal to ask any other profession to do another profession's job, yet in nursing, it's expected sometimes. Nobody would expect a physician, speech language pathologist, phlebotomist, nutritionist, or cook to mop a patient's floor. Likewise, I wouldn't ask EVS to empty my patient's ostomy bag--because I have respect for their job description, and ostomy care isn't in that description. Why in the world do people think it's ok to just assume it's ok to ask nursing to do that. No. I would absolutely refuse.

OP, if this doesn't stop, I would tell EVS and your manager that you're fine with mopping the floors and that you expect EVS to start emptying your ostomy bags in return. Just to get the point across.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

One time when I was working nights in the hospital, we spilled something (I forget what) in the nurses' back room and needed a broom to clean it up. We called housekeeping. They refused to give us a broom and insisted on cleaning our mess themselves. NO WAY is it the norm for nurses to be taking out trash, sweeping or mopping.

[Junebug14, ASN, RN]

Wow! The replies! I was pretty sure that this was not ok, thr mopping is a simple swiffer type mop, but still. I don't think it is ok. The charge nurse usually does this, however I have done it before. 😐

[Junebug14, ASN, RN]

Right, i get the other stuff because we actually use that

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

When I still worked nights our DON at the time decided it'd be a good idea to have the night shift clean the resident dining room including sweeping and mopping and the employee break room because days complained about the mess in the break room one morning. That happened exactly never. Because I was shift supervisor the DON asked me about a week later why it wasn't being done. I first explained to him that with the very limited staff we have at night we couldn't leave a wing without staff to clean up rooms that aren't used at night. I second explained to him that since we didn't use the rooms we shouldn't be responsible for cleaning them. We never contributed to the mess so why should we clean it? He never asked about it again. Shortly after housekeeping started cleaning the rooms so I assume the DON had a chat with them after I said night shift wouldn't do it.

Now cleaning and stocking med carts etc we do. We even had a rotating schedule for deep cleaning the med carts

[Steffy44]

The CLOSEST we EVER come to EVS duties is if we're desperate for a cleaned room because a pt discharged and we need to admit. EVS is sometimes tied up cleaning higher priority rooms in CCU. ALL we do is take the trash out and change the bed linen. We have other nursing duties to tend to and pharm stocks our meds.