Hospital declines

jojotoo, RN · Oct 23, 2007

Let me tell you about my hospital. Had to go on diversion a couple of weeks ago because OUR roof leaks were so bad that the first floor was flooded out. Can't get splinting material and slings at the same time. It's one are the other. No urinals. I use pillow cases for patients' belongings. Last week, a rat ran down the hall.

Oh yeah, I'm looking elsewhere.

al7139, ASN, RN · Oct 23, 2007

Last night I got a pt who had explosive diarrhea r/t PEG tube feedings. When he was passed off to me, the bathroom was covered in poop! The reporting RN had made the call to ESD to come clean his bathroom (after getting most of it up). Come 7am, still no ESD person. Tried calling and calling throughout the night...no answer. Finally had to move the pt to another room. We are a small hospital, not a huge city hospital. I am sure the ESD people just ignored our calls because they didn't want to clean up the poop.

Another frustrating issue on my unit (Cardiac/Telemetry), is that our nursing assistants are worked to death. We are experiencing a shortage of CNA's on the 3-11pm shift right now. Instead of planning ahead and using the resource pool, or pulling from another well staffed unit, our CNA's are expected to work a 2:42 pt ratio. This means that RN's have to help toilet, bathe, etc. in addition to the other nursing responsibilities. Things are very tense on this shift right now. I do not at all mind helping our CNA's if I am caught up, and they are swamped, but the way things are right now, I am lucky if my pts meds are on time. Heaven forbid we should have a code or other emergent situation! Tonight I had 7 pts. Two had family customer service issues (Gee...I wonder why.), two were new admits (with little to no admission ppwk done), and 5 of my 7 were very needy and time consuming. On top of this, a pt who I had last week ( a very sick man), was doing poorly, and the family did not like the RN assigned to him, so they would come to me with needs, issues etc. I am a new nurse. I can only do so much before I am at the breaking point. My ClinII was dealing with a boatload of problems, and kept telling me to try to help out this other (more experienced) RN. ????! HELP!!!!

I love what I do, and I take pride in giving the best care I can to my pts, but I can only do so much.

I relate and empathize with you.

Amy

ebear, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2007

This is a very dangerous situation. Did you page the administrator on call? I would bug the absolute HELL out of them!!! Maybe the newspaper in your city needs to know about this too! I would give them a call , probably anonymous, so the public could be up in arms! And notify JCAHO as well.

bethin · Oct 23, 2007

It rained for 3 days straight in early spring. My floor is on first floor - this is important to know.

I had been standing where we keep old charts, looking for a particular chart for a dr. I had just moved when the ceiling caved in where I had been standing. Regular water?? Nope! It was rain water - it had 'that' smell. Do not ask how it got to first floor but I was pissed. When I told the dr that I couldn't access the pt's old chart he asked why. I told him "well, turn your chair around and look". He did, and boy, he hit the roof!

We were full that day, 28 patients, 2 aides, 3 nurses. Who do you think had to gather the waste baskets out of pt's rooms, wait for them to fill with water, then dig through the trash before I could empty them. Yeah, that isn't a hazard or anything. Plus, I had all this extra time on my hands.

I was slacking on emptying the wastebaskets because we had a critical baby with RSV. I had started to go for the light when the charge nurse barked at me to "empty those waste baskets, the lights can wait." Uh, no. You see, my duty is a nurse's aide not a maintance woman. Good thing I got that light - 3 month old coded.

Management holds all these meetings where they want to know our thoughts and feelings. I go. I'm actually designated as the floor spokesperson because I am so outspoken when it comes to employee satisifaction and patient safety. I have tried working with management and have gotten nowhere. We routinely get babies and children. We have a red flyer wagon from the 1970's (no joke) with wooden sides and chipping paint. I explained to the NM that I observed a toddler who stood up in the wagon and pulled on a wooden side and toppled over - I was too far away to make it in time. Child ok, but what are the odds there is lead in that paint? So, I ask for a new one. That was 2 years ago.

Our br's are sooo small that they are about the size of airplane br. I'm not kidding about this either. You cannot put yourself and an ivac in it at the same time. Ortho pts cannot get in them, size 2 people have trouble getting in. The sink hangs over the toilet just like in an airplane. I hate to see what would happen when or if someone ever codes in there - and it will happen.

There's never hot water, so we have to use bath packs. They are handy but sometimes a patient needs a good soap and water bath. Bath packs do not cut bo.

But, we did just recently acquire deoderant for our pt's. Our ER, OB, Oncology, Cardiopulmonary, and outpatient clinics are all brand new. Pt's come to our med surg floor and ask "um, is this the dungeon?" It's dark, dank, and depressing. I am embarrassed to work there. I am embarrassed that our patients have to use bsc when they can make it to the br because of the size. I'm embarrassed when visitors come and compare our floor to another, although they do say we provide excellent care - sheets changed daily, pt's shaved, pericare done q8 hours. It's the atmosphere.

My mom who had a child on the floor (it used to be ob and peds) said that nothing has changed since she had my brother there for pneumonia in 1978.

Trust me, I'm looking at other hospitals.

nurse15dc · Oct 23, 2007

Let me tell you about my hospital. Had to go on diversion a couple of weeks ago because OUR roof leaks were so bad that the first floor was flooded out. Can't get splinting material and slings at the same time. It's one are the other. No urinals. I use pillow cases for patients' belongings. Last week, a rat ran down the hall.
Oh yeah, I'm looking elsewhere.

OMG!!!

I thought we had it bad when a few weeks ago I saw a XX-Large roach crawling on my pts bedrail. And our hospital will no longer carry butterfly needles for difficult blood draws.

RN1989 · Oct 23, 2007

It isn't funny, but I had to laugh reading these posts. Makes me feel better knowing that I'm not the only one out there that has to deal with this kind of thing.

elthia · Oct 24, 2007

When I worked for the VA, we were in a beautiful practically brand spanking new hospital, so sparkly and pretty. And we had no toothbrushes or toothpaste, but I could give the poor late admits a sponge on a stick.

If family came with the late night admits, I'd ask them to go home and bring back a comforter or blanket in the winter, because "I'm sorry, we ran out of blankets about 5 hours ago, and we won't recieve any linen for another day and a half.":o I was always so embarrassed about the holes in the sheets, how we had sometimes didn't have sheets and used safety pins to "make sheets" out of pillowcases (until I got written up, apparently we were not allowed to use safety pins around the pt's, safety pins are considered "sharps" and my actions were "dangerous") :trout:

We were allowed 6 containers of orange juice, 6 packages of graham crackers, 4 packages of peanut butter for the entire ward. These were the only snacks other than prescribed hs snacks on the floor, and they were kept under lock and key. If there was a diabetic emergency that called for oj, pb and crackers, you could then sign them out of the pyxis, to show they were appropriately used and accounted for. :uhoh3:

Late night admissions needing to be fed, that required a call to the nursing supervisor, who would authorize for a sack lunch to be removed from the locked ER fridge and walked up to your floor by transport. But if the the ER was out of sack lunches, the pt better hope that some staff member might take pity on him and have a can of soup hiding in the back of his/her locker or it's a can of Ensure or nothing.

If a pt asked for a soda, well he better have $$ and I'd point him/her in the direction of the vending machines, so long as he wasn't on a fluid restriction. If he/she wanted juice/coffee, I'll tell dietary and you'll just have to wait for your next tray, because the VA doesn't supply the coffee in the staff lounge, and no coffee drinkers are working this shift.

We never had the little things, personal care items. Toothbrushes, shaving cream, deodarant, razors, toothpaste. We had only 2 bedside commodes for the entire ward. I remember running out of alcohol preps one week, and everyone walking around with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a baggie of cotton balls. :idea:

But it was a brand new sparkly shiny pretty building, and the director at that time stepped down suddenly, and there was a big scandal, but no, nothing changed. At times I felt like I was working in an acute care hospital that was budgeted like a really really bad LTC facility.

ASSEDO · Oct 24, 2007

I feel better all the time. I thought my hospital sucked! :rotfl:

ebear, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2007

Elthia,

How long ago did you work at that VA??? THAT IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!! :angryfire

ebear

NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN · Oct 24, 2007

My hospital has fired ALL nurse aides to save money for building the new hospital. They became so cheap now and are saving money everywhere.