Job description for your tech's?

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I recently sent my nurse manager a note regarding our tech's. I work on a 38 bed floor. We have the usual medical, surgical, nursing home patients. Many times we will have 3 tech's yet the nurses are filling water pitchers and having to empty foley's. They pretty much do vital signs and some baths. I'm not tech-bashing here. We have 2 tech's that are wonderful- they answer the call lights and anticipate the patient's needs. We work well together. I feel like I could take 8 patients myself with these tech's. Usually the nurses have 5-6 patients (frequent turnovers). The tech's are supposed to write the I&O's on a scratch paper in the pt.rooms and the nurse transfers the numbers to the actual graphic sheet in the chart. Often this isn't done, so it is the nurse who has to check with all the patient's at the end of the shift in order to get an accurate count. I think the tech's should write the PO total and out put total in the actual chart and leave the IV section blank for the nurses. For post-op patient's- I think the tech's should get the room ready, ie, frequent VS sheet, open the bed and move it to allow for the stretcher. We have a couple of new tech's who say they used to d/c saline locks and empty JP's, etc... The nurses also do their own accu check's. Our educator told me that she was doing an inservice with our tech's and was surprised at how many times they said, "We don't do that". Customer service is a big issue at our hospital. I feel the nurses could do so much more (like teaching) if the tech's would step up a little.

Am I being unreasonable? What goes on at your hosptial?

Specializes in floor to ICU.

This weekend we worked with ONE tech for 40 patient's. Each nurse had 6 patient's a piece (not counting turnovers). :uhoh3:

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
This weekend we worked with ONE tech for 40 patient's. Each nurse had 6 patient's a piece (not counting turnovers). :uhoh3:

Sounds like my typical shifts as the tech before i graduated nursing school.

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Be careful of how you ask for help

The really good techs don't cop an attitude when you ask for help. This Political Correctness is a crock.

The good techs are usually busy, on the floor. They are there doing their jobs, which is patient care. When you ask them for help they are all about the patient. They are much appreciated and I tell them how amazing they are and what a blessing.

The "other" techs are insulted when you ask for assistance (things they are there for.)

I'm sorry but something is fundamentally wrong if you have to give yourself a crash course in "how-to-approach-a-tech" before even saying "hey can you help me turn Mrs. Doe in 206?"

You don't get this attitude from the really excellent techs.

And as a nurse you need to chip in and help when a tech can't possibly be there because she is helping someone else

Chip in a help? Most of the RNs on the floor are doing the tech's work all shift long, at least where I work.....luckily for me I worked a different unit a week or so ago and it was a joy. Thank goodness all techs aren't like the ones on my unit.

These techs were amazing. They were professional and totally focused on patient care. Really makes a difference to have great techs.

They took care of the patients.

When I needed something I didn't have to check myself before I approached them, I didn't have to "make sure I approached them in the right way" because there wasn't any of the attitude I usually deal with, when I needed help turning a patient I simply asked them if they could help turn them and that was that.

I've had techs on my floor refuse to help pull a patient up in the bed.

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Specializes in floor to ICU.
Think about it, we make upwards of $25/hr and they make about $11/hr. Would that want to make you work as hard as the RN's do?

I see your point, however, this is the position they applied for. Should I work less than the RN's on the floor because I am an LVN and make less money than they do?

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Specializes in Burn/Trauma PCU.

i work as a tech on a med/surg floor - off the top of my head, here's what we do: getting & charting vitals, recording i&os (including graphing them before shift's end), daily weights, accuchecks, am/pm care (including shaving beards and teeth brushing), changing bedpans & assisting patient to get on/off one, emptying bedside commodes, inserting/dcing/emptying foleys & -stomy bags, hanging saline, changing diapers/chuks, dcing ivs, drawing blood, transporting patients, feeding if needed, refilling water, changing bed linens/gowns, cleaning up any messes (unless > 1/2 gallon of chemical whatever), straightening stock room, answering call lights and nurse station phones, taking inventory of patients' belongings on admission, assisting patient with leaving floor/getting into vehicle at discharge, and assisting the rn with whatever they ask for help with!

mine is a good floor - all our techs work hard, as do our rns, and most of the time, our jobs are appreciated. the general motto on the floor is that it's crappy for anyone to say "that's not my job" or "that's not my patient". obviously i can't go doing something i'm not licensed to do... but i mean that everyone answers the phones/call lights, and we all help out with each others' patients, whether we are "assigned" to them or not. a unit without teamwork is just plain toxic!

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A NM needs to speak with them and tell them to get off their butts.

I agree they do not pay them for just sitting around.

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I would get a copy of the patient care tech job description from your human resource office, review it, and then prepare an inservice for all the PCTs detailing exactly what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do it. It will be hard for them to argue with what is in black and white on their job description.

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Specializes in TELE, ICU.

No Wonder R.n.'s Are Overworked, Seems Like Many Are Not Sure What Their Job Description Is, So The R.n.'s Pick Up The Slack. How Sad.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Techs/PCAs...the criteria that comes to mind, since there is so much to do for them and all is:

If I see a Tech/PCA making a habit hanging around the desk, especially when other Techs/PCAs are running their hineys off...that Tech/PCA is shucking their job and deserves my undivided attention. Oh, and believe me, that Tech/PCA would not want my attention. But, for the sake of the crew, he/she will get it....that is the consequence for inaction and dumping the load to others. I am fair, supportive, but have very little patience for this. The job description would be discussed, a walk through of his/her assignment, and documentation of the occurrence would take place. The rest is up to the Tech/PCA. Hopefully, that will nip this in the bud. If not, we will talk again. Disciplinary action may result depending upon the second round of talks. Our staff deserves no less if someone shucks their job and makes them work even harder. Again, this special attention would be for folks who like to pass the buck.

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Specializes in ABMT.

Mmm, this is such an issue on our floor right now.

Here's the thing:

Nursing assistant. Nurse's aide. I interpret that title to mean "giving assistance or aide to the nurse." Will I help a hard-working aide if I can? Absolutely. Are there things I have to do that the aide cannot do because it is outside her/his scope of practice? Absolutely. The aide's job is to assist the licensed personnel. Period. Not the other way around. Does that make the UAP inferior to the licensed people in any way? Not a bit, because, frankly, we with licenses (at least on our floor) NEED every bit of the UAPs' assistance. I spent 3 yrs as an aide before I became licensed in July 2005, so I do know the other side of it. I worked my butt off as an aide. I still work my butt off as a RN. I expect the people I work with to do the same.

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Specializes in Cardiac.
getting & charting vitals, recording i&os (including graphing them before shift's end), daily weights, accuchecks, am/pm care (including shaving beards and teeth brushing), changing bedpans & assisting patient to get on/off one, emptying bedside commodes, inserting/dcing/emptying foleys & -stomy bags, hanging saline, changing diapers/chuks, dcing ivs, drawing blood, transporting patients, feeding if needed, refilling water, changing bed linens/gowns, cleaning up any messes (unless > 1/2 gallon of chemical whatever), straightening stock room, answering call lights and nurse station phones, taking inventory of patients' belongings on admission, assisting patient with leaving floor/getting into vehicle at discharge, and assisting the rn with whatever they ask for help with!

ditto to all that. in addition, i would watch the monitors, put in orders into the computer, and ambulate pts, many of them cabgs post-op day 1. if you hire good techs, then they can do all of this and more. it was expected for our techs to know and understand the diagnosis of the pts as well. if they were a cabg, then (without being told) i would know he has to sit in the chair for all meals, ambulate 4 times a day, encourage is, and if his chest tubes have been out >24 hours, then he's taking a shower (like it or not)!

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"Quote:

Be careful of how you ask for help

The really good techs don't cop an attitude when you ask for help. This Political Correctness is a crock.

The good techs are usually busy, on the floor. They are there doing their jobs, which is patient care. When you ask them for help they are all about the patient. They are much appreciated and I tell them how amazing they are and what a blessing.

The "other" techs are insulted when you ask for assistance (things they are there for.)

I'm sorry but something is fundamentally wrong if you have to give yourself a crash course in "how-to-approach-a-tech" before even saying "hey can you help me turn Mrs. Doe in 206?"

You don't get this attitude from the really excellent techs."

Ditto, this whole post! Our excellent techs are paid the same as our attitudinal, lazy techs. THAT is the pay discrepancy I would like to see resolved! I think if nothing else, some of these techs should get charged a quarter for each phone call they receive (and one of the rest of us has to answer for them...) during a shift. Recently, I tried to talk to two of the techs about NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT GETTING ANOTHER PATIENT while they are getting vitals on a post-cath patient who just rolled in. I spoke to them individually, in private. One said, "I have no idea what you're talking about" and the other, who had been warned by the first, said, "I'm not a child" and walked off the unit for a smoke break rather than talk to me. When I complained to our NM, she told me I did the right thing, and that I should continue to address the techs directly and let them know my expectations. Thus, nothing changes. It takes a NM/boss with some expectations, and that we don't seem to have.

Do I answer call bells? Yep. Do I get patients on and off the bed pan? Yep. Do I often wind up taking vitals and emptying foleys? Yep. Like I said, some of our techs are worth way more than their $11 an hour, and some aren't worth minimum wage.

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