So I post on this forum fairly regularly, but changed my name because there may be some identifying details in this post...
Yesterday my hospital suffered a two alarm fire in one of the garbage chutes, causing major damage to one bank of buildings including the need for large portions of wall to be removed in order to access the chute and smoke pouring out of ventilation units. When I came to work, the major portions wall by the nursing station had been removed and was covered by paper (seems safe, right? No way smoke can go through paper) and the whole floor reeked of smoke and fumes from extinguishers. Some rooms had smoke damage to the walls. In addition, the fire had burned the wires to all computerized systems, which left us with no phones, no access to computer health records. And, just to making this a fun trifecta, there was only 1/3 of the necessary nurses scheduled to work, short staffing is par for the course but this really added to the situation.
You think this would merit some sort of action. And, according to administration, that action was admit more people and fill up the floor.
Yes, I had to do back to back to back admissions into rooms that smelled like burned garbage. The hallways and elevator banks reeked. And that if I needed to access health records I could go to another floor that wasn't affected by the fire and had working computers and phones. When I asked why they didn't admit them to those floors instead (there were empty beds), I was told I needed to be more flexible and understanding.
Did I mention some of those admits were not the most stable of patients?
I wish I could say I'm surprised by the greed but I mostly just have a headache from inhaling fumes all night.
I haven't seen posts with people patting themselves on the back.
I interpreted it as OP saying he/she is now seeing multiple messages ( workplace emails, not AN posts ? ) in which staff are patting themselves on the back about how well the situation was handled......I apologize in advance if I misinterpreted it. Whenever we have a power outage or some unexpected emergency like that, we always receive similar emails the next day.
What a mess!! I'd be saying to myself that this will not be the last time management handles an unsafe situation in this manner. The event is a clue to your work life there. I have experienced similar situations where management puts the bottom line first and everything else last. Patients died. The first incident was swept under the rug, the 2nd time they were sued by the deceased's family. The family won the case. The facility downsized shortly after.
Thanks every one for your responses. This is not the first time my safety (not to mention patient's safety) has been severely compromised at this job and I've taken some steps towards putting myself in a better place and trying to get some accountability. So far no one seems to think this was as much of a problem as I do, and for that reason I've found myself at a crossroad where I need to consider my future and if I should continue my employment here.
As for the back patting, I noticed some Facebook posts that were very self congratulatory, but they only mentioned the immediate response to the fire, which was excellent. It was what happened later that is more problematic.
abbnurse
404 Posts
I interpreted it as OP saying he/she is now seeing multiple messages ( workplace emails, not AN posts ? ) in which staff are patting themselves on the back about how well the situation was handled......I apologize in advance if I misinterpreted it. Whenever we have a power outage or some unexpected emergency like that, we always receive similar emails the next day.