Here we go again!

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Specializes in med/surg.

Am I the only one who feels sorry for this pt?? I found this article a very, very depressing read. She did say "some" nurses & it would have been nice for there to have been a counterbalance about the good ones but on the whole it was really, really sad.

I see she's started some group or other, maybe they should be encouraged to lobby for the right staffing levels & better "back to basics" training??

Having left the UK really recently for Canada I can see the difference a better staffed unit, with the students being 100% hands on & HCA's to assist with basic care can make. I still work really hard but at least I can care properly for my pts when doing so. In the NHS I felt I was just doing crisis management. To boot, it's still socialised care - not private! It's not perfect but it's a lot, lot better, at least where I am anyhow!

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It's not the training. Really, it's not the training. That just feeds into the 'all Nurses are crap, don't care, are dirty, too posh to wash' daily rag mentality. We don't need that. We need to stand up to ill thought out patient management that turns our patients into numbers and statistics in order to keep the money coming in. When we hit the targets where does the money go? It doesn't get to patient care via increased staffing, more beds, more time.

The newly qualified Nurses & Students I work with are dedicated and hard working (with the odd exception), and they care a great deal. They are independent thinkers, can self-manage, will challenge anyone who compromises patient care, and they want to learn. It is so sad to witness these qualities bullied out of them by people who have never laid hands on a patient or who have forgotten core Nursing values because they too have been sucked in to the 'your job is on the line on this one' culture. It just pits Nurse against Nurse, divide and rule.

It's the bare bones, punitive de-personalised culture we have to work in, not the training.

Lean Ward - why do something when you really don't have to?

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Specializes in Dialysis, Nephrology & Cosmetic Surgery.

A I felt angry reading this article for two reasons, one is that there could well be a grain of truth in what she says but the way that it is written I find it not credible.

To take several statements:

"Nurses consistently failed to wash her for months, feed her or give her anything to drink..." is she saying that for months her aunt didn't have a wash and drink or a thing to eat??

"Blood tests in hospital had revealed she was suffering from kidney failure - no doubt because of a lack of fluids and nutrition". Her opinion - she may be right but there a numerous reasons for renal failure and is usual for us to have some degree of renal failure as we age. Did her aunt have an infection? Was she on NSAID's?

"To add to her problems, she contracted MRSA". Since we have instituted a programme of swabbing every pt addmitted our HAI rates have gome to virtually nil as of course a large chunk of Joe Public are merrily unaware they are carrying this. Was she colonised or infected with MRSA? Was it picked up on screening on admission? or was she negative on admission and later tested positive?

"Each week - over the course of her five-month hospital stay - I asked for my aunt to have her hair washed and cut". Years ago when this woman was a nurse they probaly did have hairdressers visiting the wards, we don't have one in the hospital I work in, it is up to the family to arrange for a hairdresser to visit.

After saying all that I do believe there is some truth in the fact that it seems that some do not grasp the concept of basic care - not even nursing care - the basic care we would give to another ailing human being whether we are a nurse or not. I get angry at the number of times I have heard "full bed bath given" and then seen a pt with dirty teeth, hair standing on end an filth under their finger nails. II pull a member of staff up when care has been lacking - I have tackled night staff directly when I find in the morning pt have had dirty dentures in all night despite having a pot and cleaning tablets in their locker and they have allegedly had a "full bed bath given"

I ask people "didn't you notice the filth under their finger nails?" It embarasses them and so it should be hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Bashing nurses in public like this only hurts those of us with some compassion the ones who are guilty of this are not bothered - and I think they are in a minority and have not had good role models to learn from.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Recently a fellow UK nurse of mine had her mother taken into hospital. The poor woman now has to have the district nurse round every day to dress the pressure sore she got on her heel because her TED stockings were left in situ for 7 whole days!! That means she couldn't have been washed properly or checked over properly the whole time she was in!!

I fully know the pressures of working with not enough staff - I worked an acute med ward on the NHS but there's just NO excuse for not checking skin integrity or changing TED's.

I can't see who else to blame but the staff caring for her (or not caring for her in this case.)

I totally agree they need to staff wards better - it's the only thing that will truly help long term - but it takes just a few minutes to change TEDS & I can't see the excuse for not doing that, can you?

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I can think of lots of reasons and I just wiped a really long post in reply because it was a rant. We need to look further than shooting from the hip and pinning the blame on Nurses all the time.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Pity you wiped it, even if it was a rant because I would never forgive myself if I let one of my patients get into a state like that.

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Specializes in Dialysis, Nephrology & Cosmetic Surgery.

You right - it is policy and I'm sure not just a local one, that anyone with TEDs on must have them removed daily to allow the skin integrity to be assessed.

I've just deleted a paragraph of rant about attitudes of some nurses - sadly it seems to be some of the longer qualified nurses failing to set a good example.

Recently a fellow UK nurse of mine had her mother taken into hospital. The poor woman now has to have the district nurse round every day to dress the pressure sore she got on her heel because her TED stockings were left in situ for 7 whole days!! That means she couldn't have been washed properly or checked over properly the whole time she was in!!

I fully know the pressures of working with not enough staff - I worked an acute med ward on the NHS but there's just NO excuse for not checking skin integrity or changing TED's.

I can't see who else to blame but the staff caring for her (or not caring for her in this case.)

I totally agree they need to staff wards better - it's the only thing that will truly help long term - but it takes just a few minutes to change TEDS & I can't see the excuse for not doing that, can you?

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I just can't agree that we are recruiting people who don't care and then train them badly. There must be more to it than that?

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On the BBC news today Nurses are going to be disciplined for not washing their hands. In fact a Nurse was reported as being struck off for not washing her hands after treating a patient with MRSA.

"A woman has become the first nurse in England to be struck off for failing to wash her hands after treating a patient with MRSA."

Key words here: Nurse, woman, failing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7108925.stm

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

I will wash my hands thoroughly but will not use that alcohol based hand gel because my hands instantly break down with that stuff! To me ,having hands covered in open,blooding cracks is more of an infection and health hazard than not using that gel !

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Specializes in intensive care, recovery, anesthetics.

We are monitored regularly about once a week, if we do our handwashing and geling properly.

About that article, apparantly there's more behind it.

5cats

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We are monitored regularly about once a week, if we do our handwashing and geling properly.

About that article, apparantly there's more behind it.

5cats

Agreed, but it doesn't excuse the thrust of the headline. She was struck off for much more than that but all the public see when they scan the news is another dirty Nurse. With the announcement of disciplinary action for not washing hands, the public will naturally think that the only way to get a Nurse to wash their hands is to threaten discipline.

Remember what happened with the MMR vaccine hysteria? I don't know about anyone else but we have a bit of a measles outbreak where I work.

What if we get to the point where the public consciousness shifts away from going to hospital when they are ill because all the Nurses are dirty?

We are all responsible for health, including the media.

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