The Worst Its Ever Been

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, ED, Psych.

This is the WORST it has ever been on my unit. I am a noc shift RN on a mixed 28-bed Tele/Surgical Post-op unit.

Why is it the worst its been in my 8 years there you ask?

1. Staff turn-over is at its highest - Myself included, we are down to 10 RN's (7 full time)

2. Hospital wide critical census on a daily basis - full units

3. When we are short staffed (everyday), we rarely can get float RN's due to the high hospital census.

4. We have no unit secretary on noc shift anymore

5. Its a challenge to get Temp or Registry RN's

6. Confused patients that require the lone CNA to become a sitter = another blow to the overworked staff

7. Patients and visitors are ruder than ever and are hellbent on making my life a living hell

8. Endless charting either on paper or online - Thanks JCAHO, OSHA, CMS, and State health!!

9. More and More "ICU" patients are being (wrongly) admitted to my unit = more rapid responses/code blues

10. Manditory Overtime = enough said!

11. Literally to busy to get basic care done

12. Even the director of nursing (the big shot) is working the floors extra as are the unit directors, house supervisors, clinical staff educators, and other big wigs.

I needed to vent - this is terrible.

If this is a sign of things to come in the future, lets hope that the world will soon come to an end and Jesus will come soon (aka 5-10 years from now)

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it sounds like you need a union........

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Specializes in MSP, Informatics.
it sounds like you need a union........

sounds like where I used to work and they did have a union!

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Hmm well ok then, fire all the managers ;)

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

You are right-the past 3 weeks have been utter hell. My husband said something to me a while back that I had never considered, but makes total sense. He said that back in the day when he used to run EMS, his heaviest pt loads were when the seasons changed. My hope is that things will start to calm down in the next month. Until then, make sure to load up on your B-12!

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Surely, you work on my floor! I hear you and sympathize. The only solution I can see is that nurses start refusing patients once a safe ratio has been exceeded and then the hospital closes beds -- then and only then will something be done. I believe hospitals purposely understaff.

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Specializes in Geriatric Assessment, management and leadership.
This is the WORST it has ever been on my unit. I am a noc shift RN on a mixed 28-bed Tele/Surgical Post-op unit.

Why is it the worst its been in my 8 years there you ask?

1. Staff turn-over is at its highest - Myself included, we are down to 10 RN's (7 full time)

2. Hospital wide critical census on a daily basis - full units

3. When we are short staffed (everyday), we rarely can get float RN's due to the high hospital census.

4. We have no unit secretary on noc shift anymore

5. Its a challenge to get Temp or Registry RN's

6. Confused patients that require the lone CNA to become a sitter = another blow to the overworked staff

7. Patients and visitors are ruder than ever and are hellbent on making my life a living hell

8. Endless charting either on paper or online - Thanks JCAHO, OSHA, CMS, and State health!!

9. More and More "ICU" patients are being (wrongly) admitted to my unit = more rapid responses/code blues

10. Manditory Overtime = enough said!

11. Literally to busy to get basic care done

12. Even the director of nursing (the big shot) is working the floors extra as are the unit directors, house supervisors, clinical staff educators, and other big wigs.

I needed to vent - this is terrible.

If this is a sign of things to come in the future, lets hope that the world will soon come to an end and Jesus will come soon (aka 5-10 years from now)

This is scary for nurses and patients alike! Maybe 1,3 and 5 are the direct result of 2, 4, 6-12. Do the administrators of the hospital know about this? Has the DON talked with you about anything you can do as a team to improve things? For instance, can trained volunteers answer the phone or sit with patients? Can patients and families be taught realistic expectations how to work effectively with nursing staff? Can any of the charting be streamlined? Can the hospital social workers or staff development departments help with the above?

My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

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Specializes in Geriatric Assessment, management and leadership.

Droogie, RN, I support your idea of setting limits. We tend to take on more and more and don't say enough until we are burned out or leave because we are so unhappy and stressed out!

We are not powerless! We have personal power and power in numbers. I would be interested in any other ideas from other nurses that have worked to solve some of the problems that abbaking describes?

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I wish I was so busy. I keep getting canceled at my little hospital. I'm sorry it sucks. At least you're needed.

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really, there are short staffed hospitals out there :confused: so ironic! i'm a new grad rn and there are tens of thousands of us across the country who are dying to get acute care jobs in hospitals but we are told time-and-time again that there are no jobs for us right now.

i'm so saddened to hear that the nurses on your unit are struggling to stay afloat and need help...and i'm baffled at the same time. right now very few hospitals across the country are willing to pay to train us so unfortunately, we can be of no help to you and your fellow staff. however, whenever hospitals administrators decide they will actually invest in their new workforce, we will be right there by your side ready to help our fellow rns. :nurse:

here's an equations the administrators should consider for their bottom line:

investment + training + support = buy in, camaraderie, safety, & retention...pay a little up front and get huge divides in return, it's that simple. :yeah:

otherwise what do you have...stressed out nurses, a high rate of turnover, and the huge possibility of a lawsuits (either labor or malpractice) because working conditions are unsafe. :down:

my :twocents: i say that you look for a facility whose practices are more inline with the first equation. :)

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Specializes in ER/ MEDICAL ICU / CCU/OB-GYN /CORRECTION.

In California where they have UNIONS they do not have such staffing issues.

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Unfortunately the "all mighty dollar" is the bottom line and not patient care.

Sorry to hear about what you are going through.

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