Cut Staffing!

Our hospital is wanting to cut our staffing to 2 RN's when there are no pts on the unit, just to save money:nono:. We are LDR not LDRP. Our babies room in with moms. Our delivery rooms are separate from the rest of the unit so when there's a delivery there are 2 RN's tied up for a long time. So, our beef is what if's? How does you hospital staff for ratios and when you have no pts? All it takes is one bad "couple" come through the doors and BOOM! Both are busy and if another comes in who takes care of them? I think we should staff with at least 3. Why not avoid a lawsuit. Sure it costs to pay another RN, but a lawsuit is more costly. Not to mention what about someones baby, you can't bring a baby back. Im scared for the future of nursing esp in OB.

If you have union representation, I would write a letter to the editor in the local paper. A rally in a park that has alot of exposure, would also be a good ideal. And don't forget to invite the reporters from your newspaper, and the local TV news crew.

Newspaper editor "in bed" with hospital administration, call Jack Cafferty from CNN. Its time that nurses stand tall with teachers, who learned a long time ago, that they serve the kids that they teach, not the local school board. They also learned a long time ago to take their complaints about overcrowded classrooms right to mom and dad. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

And just make sure that you keep track of EVERYTHING, so if you get fired, you can sue the pants off of the hospital, and win. Take a lesson from inglein, (I am not sure that I spelled her name right), who just won big from a big named hospital on the east coast. Go to the activism forum, and read her letter about it. It is a victory for every nurse who has had to endure harrassment for being a patient advocate.

And don't forget to mention the risk to innnocent babies that the HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION, IN ALL OF THEIR GREED, IS DOING TO THESE BABIES. ALL FOR THE SAKE OF SAVING A FEW BUCKS. LET IT BE KNOWN TO THE PUBLIC, THAT HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION IS NOT CUTTING ANY OF THEIR STAFF, OR PERKS, BUT ARE MORE THAT WILLING TO RISK THE LIVES OF BABIES AND MOTHERS TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR BOTTOM LINE BY CUTTING THE NURSING STAFF!!!

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

We only staff with 2 nurses if our patient census is low.

Now this is usually 1 RN and 1 LPN. Since our LPN's have to be in house as our night OR scrub nurse. So that 1 RN has to take ALL of the outpatient's that walk through our doors. If she becomes overwhelmed or admits someone she can call her back up nurses though.

If we even get 1 labor in we HAVE to have 2 RN's on the floor. We usually have 4 nurses scheduled each night. So we could end up with 2 of them at home on call on our slow nights.

How many deliveries do you do per month/year?? You said you do LDR's so after recovery they go to a separate PP unit right?? Does your second RN take care of the baby or do you have separate nursery staff that comes in for delivery? If so then isn't the second RN free for other patients?

We are a smaller hospital and our RN's do antepartum/labor/delivery, postpartum and nursery. But we only do 70-80 deliveries per month.

I have been in your shoes though and it can be kind of scary especially when you are the ONLY RN on the floor knowing that whatever walks through your doors you have to take care of!!

] I feel for ya I worked at a facility that had 52 LDRP and on nights we were lucky if we had 6 L&D nurses to staff this huge unit. On a typical night I could do as many as 3 vag and 1 section delivery or have anywhere from 3-5 sick antepart if not doing labor. They told use that on nights we were not as busy because there were no scheduled procedures. MD's and staff tried to get more staff but it is hard when the unit will only pay extra for staff that is already working this unit unable to pull from other units because of the L&D factor. This facility doesn't use travelers in OB as far as I know not even in the main hospital. And to top it all off it is a magnet hospital I was unhappy when I left.

Lisa :angryfire

We always have to have 2 L/D trained RN's on unit, but if our census is low we will either float out the third RN or give low census. The third RN will be home on call, ready to come in if we need her. Really, it hasn't been bad at all. We are going through a slow spell because we lost an OB, and I really don't think the hospital would be willing to pay 3 RNs to sit around if there are no patients.

This move shouldn't surprise anyone, when we take corporate greed into consideration.

Hospital administrators are motivated by the almighty dollar, and they do not give a flying crap about nursing staff or patient safety. If no one speaks up, the "cutting" of staff will surely worsen in the near future.

AMEN we are always told we are overstaffed.