Venting about weekend nurses!

[dragonflyaltoids]

Ugh.... I am so sorry for being negative but it has been a rough one. I am ready to quit working weekends because of my nurses. I work on PCU as a tech, I am an ADN student in my second semester. Today I was the only tech to 30 pts. I have to do vitals q4, change linens, turn pts, etc.

My gripe is this... it's 8:30 in the morning and I am on pt # 20 and it will take me at least 45-to an hour to get to my last pt. yes, I'm slow. I'm slow because I have to get blood sugars, I have to change a poopy bed, there is no clean linen, and the nurses are all over me- "do you have my vitals?" every five minutes.

Finally I said Look you have 5 pts. I have 30, if your in that much of a rush do them yourself- I'm sorry but there are circumstances that I have to take care of before I move on and they don't understand!

The kicker- I work during the week with a group of experianced nurses (the weekend nurses are basically new) and they get flustered but they NEVER expect me to do ALL of it. They always say please, thank you, etc. But the weekend girls.... they make me want to pull my hair out, and the worst part is that I feel like the pts. don't get the care they deserve.

Like I said- I'm giving up my weekends, I can see now why no one else works them!

Thanks for letting me get it off my chest!

[hopeful2]

I feel so sorry for you, and I hope you feel abit better for talking about it here, but more importantly, I hope those lazy nurses read it!!!! Perhaps you can get some of the weekly nurses to say something to the lazy nurses. The more I read about the way nursing is in the U.S. the more 'gobsmacked' I become. All the best to you.

[LanaBanana]

Having only 1 tech for 30 pts is unacceptable. Perhaps you could talk to your manager about your concern for the care of the patients? We try to have a max of 6 patients, but sometimes end up with 9 and that is that max. When we have 9 (which rarely happens on day shift) the nurses all pitch in and help with giving bed baths and linen changes and things like that but still expect us to keep up with vitals/glucs/I&O/etc which is very doable. I can't imagine having 30!!!!

[alexlynk]

Hi, I'm a BSN student but I'm also a CNA/MA vet, and have lots of experience in Ward/Clinical settings. Reading your post troubled me, specially since you cant really expect to take good care of pts if you are doing more than 10 pts her shift. 30 pts is unthinkable to me, and is a major blemish on the professional nurses who supervise you, since they really should know better. I would assess what they do in their free time, because if in fact you are ALL running amock, then I'd get on the supervising official, maybe even go beyond him/her. Remember, CNAs have a voice, you have rights just like the nurses do, you're not going to make a friend, but you should seek to nip this kind of an issue in the behind quickly, like you said, pts are at stake. On the further note, it is a job of a nurse as well as a CNA to do ALL those things you do as well, I/O,VS,BS,Bedpans, bedbaths, etc, Or perhaps some of them need to be sent back to school.

I'm not trying to rouse a passion for rebellion, but I am saying be smart, I think every system has leniency towards those who "just do that right thing" once in a while!