Governator kicks nurses butts!!!

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Dec 9, 2004

I think we get a really good taste as to what ole Arnold is really all about here. Can you imagine what havoc he would cause on a national scale? And there are actually folks trying to push to amend the Constitution for him to do just that. He is way too scarey. Folks who push for him concern me. A little too fascist in Republican clothing to my liking.

begalli · Dec 9, 2004

Hospitals designated by the Local Emergency Medical Services (LEMS) Agency as a "base hospital", as defined in section 1797.58 of the Health and Safety Code, shall have either a licensed physician or a registered nurse on duty to respond to the base radio 24 hours each day. When the duty of base radio responder is assigned to a registered nurse, that registered nurse may assist by performing other nursing tasks when not responding to radio calls, but shall be immediately available to respond to requests for medical direction on the base radio. The registered nurse assigned as base radio responder shall not be counted in the licensed nurse-to-patient ratios.

If I'm reading this right, this is like trauma ICUs are staffed in CA. The unit MUST staff for a trauma 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They must also have a bed specifically designated for a trauma. This nurse is not in the count, but there "just in case."

Is that kinda of the same thing?

Is this Title 22?

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Dec 9, 2004

It was the comments made by this a--hole that turned my stomach. I realize that the comments were made by the "enemy", so to speak, but they contribute toward the pool of information (no matter that the "information" is not fit to line the bottom of a birdcage) from which the public forms its opinion of nurses, the CNA, and the governator:

An advocate for the state's hospitals denounced the protesters' tactics.
"It's disgraceful and pathetic. It really dishonors the nursing profession," said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Assn., which supports maintaining current nurse staffing levels-one for every six patients in medical-surgical wards, instead of one for every five under the requirement put off by the governor.
"Most nurses in California who do not belong to the CNA are individuals who are dedicated, caring people who spend their lives helping others heal. They do not support these antics, which smack of Teamster labor union tactics," Emerson said.

:uhoh3: :uhoh3: :angryfire :angryfire :eek: :eek: :chair: :chair: :(

pickledpepperRN · Dec 9, 2004

If I'm reading this right, this is like trauma ICUs are staffed in CA. The unit MUST staff for a trauma 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They must also have a bed specifically designated for a trauma. This nurse is not in the count, but there "just in case."
Is that kinda of the same thing?
Is this Title 22?

Title 22 is the regulations healthcare facilities must follow to be licensed. This ER section went into effect on 1/1/2004. It is the section the Governors "emergency regulations" changed to allow 'flexibility'.

Before the ratios hospitals had an emergency almost every shift. A sick call, a baby born, an MI caused a 'staffing emergency'. Patients were placed in chairs, wheel chairs, and carts in hallways and closets in the ED. I have heard of as many as 52 patients. i MD and 2 RNs in the ED.

One ER nurse said, "I won't work where we are so short that I find people dead in the chair in the ED waiting room."

If acuity worked we wouldn't have spent our free time for 12 years trying to get safe staffing.

Tony35NYC · Dec 9, 2004

To get a real insight into Arnold you have to read his book, titled "Arnold, portrait of a bodybuilder". I am not advocating buying his book but in his book he admits to and brags about being a master manipulator. He is very egotistical and very wealthy. In his book he talks a lot about how he learned to manipulate people to get what he wants.

This is true. Many people see the governator as just a dumb, sweet guy with a charming accent, and so they smile at everything he says and does do matter how stupid it is. No one took him very seriously as a governor during the elections, all people were thinking was that he couldn't possibly be any worse than the alternative (whom just about everyone [including most democrats] seemed to really hate). Davis was not a good governor but are Californians really better off now that he's gone?

The governator is a cold-hearted guy who lies and manipulates people to get his way, and although pretty much all politicians do this the difference with him is that he gets away with anything at all because he's a big Hollywood star and people really love him. Its a very powerful combo to be rich, famous, good looking, powerful, and well-liked by the massess. That could get to anybody's head.

I heard a rumor that he may be on the Republican ticket in 2008. Please say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!! :uhoh21:

Haunted · Dec 9, 2004

The man is an idiot! He treats nurses, and women in general, like objects to meet his own personal needs and desires. HIPAA aside, he has been a patient at a hospital I used to work at and he was one nasty self-centered patient (Maria was also a patient and she's no bargain either). He won the election because we Californians are idiots too. Thank God, at this time, he can't run for President.

Keep an eye on his website....he has a lot of "special interest" financial backers who are trying to overturn the immigration status to allow him to run for President. Some of those big money backers include The California Healthcare Association, a lobbyist group that many hospitals belong to who are fighting CNA hand to hand...just a story to watch.

Haunted · Dec 9, 2004

After reading the replies here, just a few FYI's to add... CNA is just one union that healthcare workers belong to. The staffing ratios were placed after years of EXTENSIVE research by the Department of Health Services, a federal regulatory agency, as well as reports from JCAHO and review of state owned hospitals, teaching facilities and patient satisfaction surveys statewide. When the bill was adopted, it was put into effect by the people in California who voted for it. Several years were allotted to hospitals to allow them to structure staffing modules that would facilitate the ratio.

The problem is that many hospitals that are not union represented have increased the LVN's into the staffing ratio, giving them a 50% shift count, although the RN, who makes up the other 50% is also ultimetely responsible for assessment, IVP and IVPB's, admission and care plans of the LVN's patients. These facilities have also eliminated nurses aids making each nurse PRIMARY for their 6 patients, which includes VS, meal tray delivery, feeds, linen changes, bed baths, ambulation to bathroom, on and off bedpans, and has reduced the unit secretary's time making us also responsible for transcribing and placing orders.

I would also like to point out that hospitals throughout California have seen a billion dollar plus increases in profits since 2000. So the hospitals themselves are not suffering a financial shortfall. I also don't believe there is a genuine nursing shortage here in California. I work registry and can site Bristol Park Medical Group in OC as having at least 10 RN's in the doc offices on any given day. When I work there I room patients, take vitals, may give an IM or ear irrigation, phone in an RX, but usually perform things that MA's could easily do. When I ask the RN's that work there why they stay they say they hate bedside nursing and the administrative BS that goes along with it! I say good for them. Just a thought...

boulergirl, CNA · Dec 9, 2004

Here in GA we voted out a governor that alienated the state's teachers. He can always be replaced and knowing how he is his ego would take a major hit.

NurseGuy, I know which governor you're talking about. :rotfl: Wasn't his nickname "King Roy"? Oh my goodness, what a booger. I helped replace him, too.

hipab4hands · Dec 9, 2004

Not if CA nurses have anything to say about it.
He is so incredibly stupid. He called nurses "special interest." Yet when HCA stood up to decry the nurses actions it was acceptable? Who has more money to give him? Obviously HCA
I guess when you donate enough PAC money to his campaign then you're not a special interest.
I was one of the thousands of nurses, who were at the State Capitol in Sacramento, CA to attend the protest regarding nursing ratios. The "gov" didn't even have the courtesy to come out of his office to address the issues. I wonder if CNA had paid enough PAC money would he have come out of hiding.

hipab4hands · Dec 9, 2004

If I read the article correctly, he was calling the union a special interest group, not the nursing profession as a whole a special interest group. I find it hard to believe people use so much energy to protest a 1:6 ratio on a med/surg floor! What do they do when they get that next admit due to the ER overflowing, and the floor was originally staffed in the morning for what the census was at that time? Are they unable to handle new admits? Even with the on-call nurse coming in to help, sometimes it is hard to predict how many times the new admits will make the rounds of the nurses available. Do what you can, stabilize the patients, and then we have, guess what? ANOTHER SHIFT COMING IN! I would love to have fewer pts. per shift, but what would the extra staffing do to the cost of healthcare? The profit of the hospital? We already have another thread here about how Americans are deprived of healthcare. The nurses apparently acted in an unprofessional manner, that is too bad. But, if you can't stand the heat, as they say.....

It's still cheaper to staff a unit properly then it is to pay out the money for a lawsuit due to poor staffing/negligence.

The bean counters in the hospital are gambling with the lives and safety of both staff and the patients by not staffing properly.

By the way, I don't mean any disrespect, but your partyline about accepting the current levels of staffing is what Administration loves. They want nurses, who are willing to work under any circumstances, regardless of patient safety and staff safety. As long as your willing to work under these conditions, then Administration has no motiviation to change.

Nurses in California are not willing to just lay back and silently accept improper staffing levels. The govenor is well aware of this as we staged a protest at his office at the State Capital last week. It was amazing that many of our state representatives publicly spoke out and joined us. Many of these folks have family members, who are nurses, and are well aware of the type of care, patients recieve under the current staffing ratio's.

NurseGuy_in_06 · Dec 9, 2004

NurseGuy, I know which governor you're talking about. :rotfl: Wasn't his nickname "King Roy"? Oh my goodness, what a booger. I helped replace him, too.

Yes it was "King Roy". What Arnold needs is a dose of reality. If he was to lose an election I believe everyone would see the "real" Arnold. This coming from a right-leaning centrist. :)

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 9, 2004

I heard a rumor that he may be on the Republican ticket in 2008. Please say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!! :uhoh21:

He has to have been born in the USA in order for this to happen, unless laws are changed. If the laws are changed and he'll be allowed to run, then just shoot me now, please.