How much waste do you see?

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Surgical ICU, Medical ICU.

So after the MM 'sicko' thread, me and some of my co-workers got to talking last night about the whole univ health care issue and what's best. We all agreed that, on our unit esp, we see a lot of dollars that could go elsewhere and we see a lot of wasteful spending in our system. We basically take patients that are dead or near death. We save patients that are homeless and leave them on vents for months at a time where we know we will never get that money back when they die. We also see the same with illegals. About 1/2 of our patients do not have any form of insurance (so they wont be paying) and they still get to sit on the vent and rot until they die for thousands of dollars a day. This is a huge waste to me. In other units perspectively, how much wasting of healthcare dollars do you see?

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Wow this wasn't at all what I expected when I read the title and opened this post.

Gee, I was just going to add that the number of wasted gloves I pick up off the floor and throw away during one shift is annoying.

:confused:

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A life is a life and you chose nursing to save/preserve life, right?

Waste is drawing too much meds and throwing out half of it.

Waste is staff thinking that the utility closet is their shopping store.

Waste is not recycling all of the non hazardous stuff hospitals throw away.

etc.....

Waste is not giving dying patients the right to die with a little dignity, no matter who they are or where they came from.

Just my opinion.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Surgical ICU, Medical ICU.
A life is a life and you chose nursing to save/preserve life, right?

Waste is drawing too much meds and throwing out half of it.

Waste is staff thinking that the utility closet is their shopping store.

Waste is not recycling all of the non hazardous stuff hospitals throw away.

etc.....

Waste is not giving dying patients the right to die with a little dignity, no matter who they are or where they came from.

Just my opinion.

so you think its a good idea to waste money on people who are basically dead anyway? No one said to let them die without dignity, personally I think dying for months rotting on a machine is dying without dignity, but I guess thats just me. I agree that the other things are wasteful too, and they add up over time. And no, I didnt go into nursing to save lives, I chose nursing to HELP people and I recognise when that sometimes survival isnt always the best option. I didn't mean that they werent worth saving BECAUSE they can't pay, but that it is wasteful because we know they wont pay. I never meant that someone was worth saving more because they can pay, personally I think futile measures should be stopped on them too. I was just asking about your experiences because I was curious.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Just wanted to know..Is it really necessary to wear a gown in a room where the patient has MRSA in the nares?

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I hate all the recyclables that we throw away...

I hate all the energy that's wasted on: Computer's being left on all day and night (in areas that don't need it, like offices), every light in the world on, TVs in empty rooms on, etc, etc.

Lots and lots of other ways to save money, energy and the envirnoment before pulling vents off of illegal or homeless pts.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Just curious because if the patient has MRSA in the nares, I don't intend on picking their nose with bare hands. I just hate putting a gown on.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Yes, and that's lots and lots of gowns in a year....

What about resp MRSA when they are on a vent?

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Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.

I've seen a few people who we're "wasting" money on recover and walk out to their families. I'm not sure if they paid though. Is it still a waste then?

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so you think its a good idea to waste money on people who are basically dead anyway? No one said to let them die without dignity, personally I think dying for months rotting on a machine is dying without dignity, but I guess thats just me. I agree that the other things are wasteful too, and they add up over time. And no, I didnt go into nursing to save lives, I chose nursing to HELP people and I recognise when that sometimes survival isnt always the best option. I didn't mean that they werent worth saving BECAUSE they can't pay, but that it is wasteful because we know they wont pay. I never meant that someone was worth saving more because they can pay, personally I think futile measures should be stopped on them too. I was just asking about your experiences because I was curious.

I'm sure that there are a lot of people that would agree with you but they won't admit it here because they don't want to be lambasted for their opinion.

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Specializes in Organ Transplant Unit, SICU, Surgery.

As much as I love the clinical stuff I see, medicine is running a business & there are a lot of people that can't manage or run a business unit efficiently. I'm a former banker & I see waste on a daily basis on soooooo many levels. VERY SAD & this is a result of VERY DUMB people who have passed the NCLEX & can't deliver safe care, let alone balance their own checkbooks. Anyway, this is of course one of the reasons healthcare is so expensive. Then people wonder why it costs so much. I was thinking about taking some time off, but once I get my NCLEX out of the way, I'm going to start positioning myself for an MBA b/c it's going to get worse before it gets better. BTW what did you guys do to study for the NCLEX? Haven't passed twice & I'm working through Suzanne's 1st step, but I'm just curious.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Surgical ICU, Medical ICU.
As much as I love the clinical stuff I see, medicine is running a business & there are a lot of people that can't manage or run a business unit efficiently. I'm a former banker & I see waste on a daily basis on soooooo many levels. VERY SAD & this is a result of VERY DUMB people who have passed the NCLEX & can't deliver safe care, let alone balance their own checkbooks. Anyway, this is of course one of the reasons healthcare is so expensive. Then people wonder why it costs so much. I was thinking about taking some time off, but once I get my NCLEX out of the way, I'm going to start positioning myself for an MBA b/c it's going to get worse before it gets better. BTW what did you guys do to study for the NCLEX? Haven't passed twice & I'm working through Suzanne's 1st step, but I'm just curious.

???? Kind of off topic. I love the very dumb people who passed their NCLEX part lol. Bitter, party of one! :rolleyes:

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