Didn't know I'd have to do additional jobs besides mine!

Nurses New Nurse

Published

You are reading page 2 of Didn't know I'd have to do additional jobs besides mine!

cherokeesummer

739 Posts

Specializes in OBGYN, Neonatal.

On our unit we don't always have a secretary or they are so swamped that we have to do our own stuff. We rarely if ever have aides. We do all the moms care, babies care, change linens, pass and pick up meal trays, do vital signs, etc. etc....it sucks but sadly I don't think it will change soon.

loriangel14, RN

6,931 Posts

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I am surprised by the people that complain of having to do pt care. I have never been anywhere that had aides. All the nurses I work with do all their own cares. I take it as being part of the job. I work in a small hospital and we have to wear many hats. We have no social workers, aides, or chaplain and the ward clerk is only days mon - fri so some nurses wear that hat too.

SoundofMusic

1,016 Posts

I am surprised by the people that complain of having to do pt care. I have never been anywhere that had aides. All the nurses I work with do all their own cares. I take it as being part of the job. I work in a small hospital and we have to wear many hats. We have no social workers, aides, or chaplain and the ward clerk is only days mon - fri so some nurses wear that hat too.

Taking out pt. diet trays is not patient care. Entering in every single piddly order all night long may come close, but it's still not patient care. It is an administrative TASK. Emptying garbage cans is not patient care. Answering the phone and directing visitors all day long to waiting rooms and restrooms, or other floors, is not patient care. And I have not been trained in social work, I'm sorry. I am not a social worker, or a Chaplain -- I am a nurse.

These are the things that make a unit function, but are not patient care. MY job, as a nurse, is to coordinate and execute my patient's care. It's a huge job. I am designated as last in line to catch the mistake of a pharmacist or an MD. I am responsible for the well being of my patients from minute to minute, especially those who are at high risk for falls or are in critical condition, and for carrying out orders using skills that I have acquired through specific education to do so.

If I'm so busy taking out garbage, stuffing charts, and/or entering routine orders, I FEAR that I may miss something else that SHOULD take precedence -- and that is REAL patient care. Do they ever wonder why nurses make med mistakes? Maybe it's because they've spent 1-3 hrs of their shift doing non-nurse tasks and so therefore, they had less time to concentrate and focus on what was truly pertinent to their job?

nursemike, ASN, RN

1 Article; 2,362 Posts

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
I am surprised by the people that complain of having to do pt care. I have never been anywhere that had aides. All the nurses I work with do all their own cares. I take it as being part of the job. I work in a small hospital and we have to wear many hats. We have no social workers, aides, or chaplain and the ward clerk is only days mon - fri so some nurses wear that hat too.

I recall a night when I had had to cut off a patient's ID bracelet in the process of a difficult, 30 minute IV stick. The band interfered with the only decent site I could find. So, as I hurried to catch up on all the things that had to wait while I started the IV, I asked my aide to put a new band on the patient. It was near change of shift, and one of their duties is to verify that each pt has an ID band. So another aide, who was sitting on his butt at the nurses station (along with my aide--but she had been working hard doing her job all evening, so I didn't begrudge her a sit) chimed in, "Oh, you're a nurse. You're allowed to put ID bands on, too."

I don't delegate because I'm lazy or because I'm "too good" to do menial tasks. I work in a fairly large, tertiary care hospital that has decent resources, even on nightshift. We normally have aides, unit clerks, and a chaplain on call around the clock, as well as a pharmacist, rad techs, resp techs--even someone from care management on call, if needed, although most care mgt and social work is done on days. We have dietary aides on nights, and housekeepers available, if necessary. With all that support, which I very much appreciate, the only chance I usually have to sit is when I chart, and all too often I don't get my charting done until I've reported off to the next shift.

I don't mind working hard. Heck, I kinda like staying busy. I also kinda like it when I have a little extra time after doing the things only a nurse can do to spend doing some of the things I thought nurses do--holding hands and listening, giving baths, showing I care with a cup of coffee and a smile. But I really don't much like it when I have to prioritize and let a wastebasket overflow or a patient lay in filth a few minutes longer so that I can finish a dressing change or address a patient who has lost interest in breathing at the moment. If I don't have someone to fetch an extra blanket for one patient while I'm pushing IV amiodarone on another, the blanket has to wait.

Most of our aides work pretty hard. Our clerks work pretty hard. Our dietary staff works pretty hard. I work pretty hard. When we're short in one of these support positions, or have someone who just won't do their job, I work a bit harder, but mostly, some stuff just doesn't get done, because no matter how many hats I'm wearing, I'm only one person.

Specializes in ICU/ER.

I dont want to get flamed for what I am about to say, but Soundof music, If I am correct your a relatively new nurse--like me, I just became a nurse in Jan. In my unit we have no ward clerk so we enter in all of our orders, stuff the charts, fax to pharm, take out the trash, clean the commodes, talk with dietary, even help with PT/OT if needed. I am sure I am forgetting something....where I am going is, it is over whelming to me to balance everything, so the little tasks like entering in orders seem like big tasks. But to the more seasoned nurses who have been doing it for years it is like a blink of an eye. They can go on auto pilot and stuff a chart--where as I am like "where does the valuables sheet go?"

The nice thing about doing it all is we do know all there is to know about our pts. If a Drs says, did we get an albumin done? I know, cause I put it in. or I got it off the fax and put it in the chart.

Also I have worked on Med Surg before where they have a ward clerk and the charts sit up at her desk for hours at a time in a nice little pile waiting for her to get to them. She does not know some orders need to be put in stat, even if we tell her. If something comes acorss her fax she may not realize the sensitivity to it and just put it in the pile to be placed in the chart when she gets to it.

I guess I dont really mind doing everything from housekeeping to med admin for my pts. I only have 3 pts max though so that may make a difference. I do think the longer I am a nurse the more the little tasks will become second nature and they wont seem as big of a deal.

Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

I don't have a problem with doing the tasks usually handled by an aide or secretary.

What I have a problem with is when I consistently have the same number of patients in an assignment as though those resources are available to me. :madface:

The other problem I have is beign questioned (aka reprimanded) for not taking a lunch or leaving late because of not having said resources and still being expected to do it all without leaving anything out.

Supervisor: "Why are you still here?"

Me: "I had a full, high-acuity assignment. I had no secretary and no aide. What would you like me to skip or skimp-on to get out of here on time?"

Me (too): "Why are you so worried? It's still costing you less than paying an aid or secretary for a whole shift."

:banghead:=How I feel after every shift lately

SoundofMusic

1,016 Posts

Me (too): "Why are you so worried? It's still costing you less than paying an aid or secretary for a whole shift."

Yes, this is it. It costs them LESS.

Yet they still get (or at least expect) the same amount of work.

So, what's wrong with this picture?? :confused:

It is my opinion that nurses are the only ones not benefitting from this situation -- along with the patients.

Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Psych.

I guess I dont really mind doing everything from housekeeping to med admin for my pts. I only have 3 pts max though so that may make a difference. I do think the longer I am a nurse the more the little tasks will become second nature and they wont seem as big of a deal.

That's the difference...you only have 3 pts max.

I don't think that most nurses have problems doing the extra things, it just that there is no time. When we have 5 tele pts, we have to prioritize. Hmmm... do I empty the garbage, or start the IVPB? Do I take the tray out of the room, or go page an MD for a critical K+?

Many of our assignments are made on the basis that we have a tech, secretary, or some other ancillary help. When they aren't there and we have the same assignment, it isn't as if I magically got more time to do all of the high priority tasks and what is usually covered by ancillary staff.

Ultimately, if something does go wrong, the argument of "we had no secretary" will not save us. This is why this situation drives me crazy!

It has nothing to do with not wanting to give complete care.

P.S. I need to find that hospital where you only have 3 patients! :bowingpur

CrazyPremed

Specializes in ICU.
No, don't feel those jobs are beneath me at all. But I don't see how that AMOUNT of work can be completed sometimes on one shift by one individual. I'm not just putting in STAT orders -- I'm putting in ALL my orders, all night long. I'm not doing total care here and there -- I'm doing total care on all my patients, all night long, turning, emptying foleys, doing things that techs should do, and then trying to fit in my own job of managing my pt's care from A to Z and complete a mound of paperwork.

It's just TOO MUCH, and NO, they do not prepare you for this in nursng school. Or maybe then did and I wasn't paying attention -- entirely possible because you really can't understand it until you experience it and see the totality of what they expect of you as the nurse.

You just described my job.

Our unit doesn't have techs and often no secretary on weekends (I'm weekend option). The times we do have a secretary she's usually outside smoking or on the phone making personal calls.

We're expected to rely upon the other nurses to help us and vice versa.

pagandeva2000, LPN

7,984 Posts

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I also feel that even with the unit secretary and techs, you cannot assume that they will do the job accurately. I have heard of many unit secretaries that have put the screws on nurses by not calling them when the doctor returns a page, writing incorrect orders, many other things, on purpose. Techs and CNAs not doing correct vital signs, turning and bathing patients...many other things that while are the RNs responsibility, but I don't know of any nurse that is an octopus. It is a shame, really.

+ Add a Comment