I never want to hear those words from you again

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Heh.

From the admin to me, this morning, about staffing. My magic words were, "We're always short."

We have 120 beds. 38 are mine. 20 of those people are totals. Hoyers. We are supposed to have 17 aides on days, 6 on my unit. Total today 15, 2 called off, 13. 4 on mine. One leaving early, another who works as "the early girl*."

Ooookay. We are, on occasion, staffed at less-than-ideal levels. Now is it not an elephant in the living room?

* I cringe when they are referred to as "the girls."

[ktwlpn, LPN]

do you kiss your family with that dirty mouth of yours? How dare you use that nasty language. I love how admin assumes that all of the residents are so cognitively challenged that they won't figure it out for themselves-especially when they see you showering other residents.... And the "my girls" or "the girls" thing makes my skin crawl,too.Let's just infantisize everyone-residents and staff...

[Moogie]

I guess I didn't pick up on the sexual implications of the term "the girls" as much as I did the way it demeans women (and excludes men!) involved in direct patient/resident/client care. I just think it's condescending to refer to a female over high school age as a "girl". I used to cringe when I worked LTC and would overhear another nurse refer to the CNAs as "the girls".

Short-staffing is never cool, regardless of whether workers are referred to as "CNAs", "nurses" or "the girls".

[JB2007, ASN, RN]

I feel your pain. At least one person calls in per shift everyday. There are 30 residents on my hall alone and 60 total on the entire unit. 3 aides on my hall and 3 aides on the hall right next to me. I would say at least half of my residents are hoyers. I would say there are only about 2 residents that you just remind them to wash up and take out linens and the rest are totals. If I do not have a good team that wants to work it is a really bad day.

I really can not blame the aides when they call off because there are times when you just get tired of being worked to death. However, it does make it that much harder on the rest of us that do show up.

Yep upper management would prefer that I just shut my mouth most of the time too. I will not give them the pleasure of me keeping my mouth shut.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I'm just pi$$ed. I said it to her privately. However, I had my rear handed to me last week in the daily meeting when I (and another RN manager) raised the issue. Not the right time or place. So what is the point of these meetings? You take 1/2 hour - 45 minutes out of every morning, we are your managers, and we are not permitted to raise the issues we're having?

[JenniferSews]

Gotta love LTC. If we don't say it aloud or admit to it, it's not a problem!

[JB2007, ASN, RN]

Gotta love LTC. If we don't say it aloud or admit to it, it's not a problem!

LOL

How about until state says it is a problem, it's not a problem!

[jnrsmommy]

LOL

How about until state says it is a problem, it's not a problem!

I don't believe truer words have ever been spoken.

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

I wish state with all their rules and regulations would sit down and figure out how three aides to forty residents can do all they are meant to without breaking the rules.

It's a game.

[JB2007, ASN, RN]

I'm just pi$$ed. I said it to her privately. However, I had my rear handed to me last week in the daily meeting when I (and another RN manager) raised the issue. Not the right time or place. So what is the point of these meetings? You take 1/2 hour - 45 minutes out of every morning, we are your managers, and we are not permitted to raise the issues we're having?

Oh the wonderful joys of meetings. The point of the meetings are to tell you all the things that you and your fellow nurses on the floor are doing wrong. Oh and to tell you how you are going to make an impossible situation possible. It most certainly is not so that you can raise a valid point that they may need to fix an ongoing problem.

You think 1/2 hour - 45 mins is bad. One of the managers where I work told me the other day that she is forced to attend so many meetings that she is only on the floor for approx. 2 hours a day. That tells me they are paying a whole lot of people to sit around and talk about how they are going to fix problems, rather than going out and fixing the problems.

[Leelee2]

"I don't want to hear those words from you again..."

okay, first of all the sentence is demeaning, and has a scolding feel to it...Staffing is the Biggest issue in LTC! I don't blame the staff that call in when they are really sick..we work with ill people, and people do tend to get sick. I do blame facility management/admin. for understaffing. Got total validation this year though! When state came for yearly visit, they were sited for staffing! Not adequate to meet pt needs! Ahhhh, validation. Though I am sure the slight fine is way less than it would cost to provide that adequate staffing on a daily basis. I can't even believe that the admin. spoke to you like that, disrespectable, and obviously has head tucked deeply in the sand.

I feel for you, you are in a pretty tough spot dealing with that kind of admin.

[debRN0417]

The reason the state won't mandate staffing ratios, in my opinion, is because most of the staff work their tails off to make sure that the residents are well taken care of...even when they are short. No outcome...no problem....