Help! Problems delegating to techs!

At least you have aides.

In my unit the nurse does total care. According to our collective agreement it is permissible to combine one's breaks. That clause's intent is to cover for those times when it's just too busy to go for a coffee break at the expected time, so it could be tacked on to a lunch or supper break. But what really happens is that many of the nurses, the single aide and the unit clerk will combine their night breaks into a 90 minute block, help themselves to a blanket or two from the warmer (and sometimes a pillow and an empty bed if we have one), stretch out on the sofas in the staff room, prop their feet up on a chair and sleep the entire time. Or else they go to the parkade and sleep in their cars! They often overstay because they're asleep and don't wake up in time, then come back groggy and stupid. Meanwhile, the nurse who is covering their ICU patients for their break might have done most of the work they had for the entire night... plus all of their own work.

This is a thorn in my side for a number of reasons. I don't combine my breaks, and I don't EVER sleep on the job. I also have to share the rather small and crowded staff room with these sleeping beauties. I try to get my supper break in early enough that there's no one sleeping, and I take my coffee break late enough that they should be done. Times when that hasn't worked, I have been trapped on the sofa (when I've been lucky enough to get there first and there's room!) between two snoring people with their feet up on chairs and no way to get out of the spot. Wake 'em up and it's like poking the bear! Can't you see I'm sleeping here? Now what would happen if there was a code and everyone had to return to their bedsides? They'd all be useless because they were in a deep sleep, and I'd do all the thinking and the work... if they even heard the code called, because the pages don't go into the staff room so unless you're listening for them you wouldn't hear them, and of course, if they're in their car they'd never know anything happened until they came back to the unit.

The worst offenders are the ones who work permanent nights (most of us do rotating shifts). Can you tell I just worked a night shift? I've had about three hours of fitful sleep and I'm thanking my Creator that I don't have to go back tonight! Oh, and the aide we had on last night could never be found. I don't know what she did for 12 hours, but it wasn't what she was paid for.

Oh, we have the smokers too. Some of our worst offenders in that category also work permanent nights. They travel in packs, like girls in junior high school going to the bathroom. So when it's smoke break time, four of them disappear all at once and are gone for as long as they're gone. They can't smoke on hospital property so heaven knows where they are, except in the unit!

I have been considering a move to another job. If this were the only problem in our unit, I could suck it up. But the place is imploding and no one seems to care. Changing jobs would be a huge adjustment for me because I've only ever worked peds, and PICU for 11 years... and this hospital is THE peds hospital. I just don't want to jump out of the frying pan.