Lifting huge laundry bags...

Drowsyrn · Feb 8, 2014

I have been a nurse for 15 years, the last seven have been in PACU. I can go through my whole story of how I have always been a team player, willing to go above and behind, blah blah. My problem seems small but it is really bothering me. I work at an ambulatory surgery center (started 2 months ago). Some days we may have 55 patients, mostly eye surgeries with probably ten or so general cases being ortho. It's a long day, no breaks, short lunch, we all know the drill. I accepted that years ago and concentrate on pt care.

Here's my dilemma. The nurses strip and clean the stretchers and fill the laundry bags and bring them to the dirty utility room. The eye pts are also on stretchers so you're looking at linen for 55 stretchers. At the end of a ten hour + day, we are then expected to push the huge linen cart across the parking lot and then take each bag and hoist them up into a different bin outside which the laundry company picks up in the evening.

I'm all for doing my part but this seems wrong on so many levels. Now I know it's easy to say, I'd go right to my manager and say this and that. I'm a very assertive, confident, fair minded nurse. I know how to deal with management and coworkers. I am going to go to my manager, he's very approachable and a good guy. I am contemplating if I want to say I don't think it is work for a nurse to do, now don't go postal on me for saying that. We are professionals and work very hard for 8, 10, 12 hours a day. Or, if it is not something physically we should be doing. Not sure if I want to go the "it's tough physically" route. I know we have to carry our load but this is getting crazy. I have had many jobs (I'm a military wife who has traveled for 25 years with hubby), but have never had to lift twenty laundry bags over my head into a dumpster type bin at the end of the day.

How would you all approach it?

WillyNilly · Feb 8, 2014

How would I handle this? I would lift the bags. I would lift them happily knowing I have a job at the end of the day. If they are too heavy, don't stuff them too full. Empty at half shift and end. Rotate turns but in the end I would keep on lifting with a smile. As long as I am able and no injury is caused-keep on keeping on.

WillyNilly · Feb 8, 2014

As posted in another thread, How would I handle this? I would lift the bags. I would lift them happily knowing I have a job at the end of the day. If they are too heavy, don't stuff them too full. Empty at half shift and end. Rotate turns but in the end I would keep on lifting with a smile. As long as I am able and no injury is caused-keep on keeping on.

I would do it because it is my job and if I don't do it someone else will.

Drowsyrn · Feb 8, 2014

Hi WillyNilly, thanks for your post. I'm really curious how others see this. Do you know how to delete a thread? I tried to take it out of PACU thread. Anyway, I'm going to be the bad guy/girl here but I keep questioning if it is my job? I have done MANY things in the last fifteen years of nursing that I know aren't my job but do it with a smile. I was told they had an orderly who did it but left right before I started and they haven't hired a new one. So are they getting the most bang for their buck out of us nurses because we just keep smiling and doing it. Where do we draw the line?

Right now just PACU is responsible and there's only two of us in there and it takes us both so there is no rotating. I'm going to suggest rotating with the other depts (OR, Pre-op), then we would have many to rotate with. We all take care of the patients, just because they end with PACU doesn't mean they are just ours.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 8, 2014

Anyway, I'm going to be the bad guy/girl here but I keep questioning if it is my job?

Many job descriptions will include the line "and any other duties as assigned by the manager" or something similar. So yes, if they've made the determination that the nurses are responsible for taking care of the laundry bags, it is your job. I'm with Willy Nilly- don't make them too full, take turns, etc. to make it safer for you to do an assigned duty.

nynursey_ · Feb 8, 2014

While there is a disclosure in most job duty provisions of nursing contracts, I'm seeing this trend become more and more popular, especially in my hospital. Non-nursing duties are being assigned to nurses as a means of cutting expenses in other areas, such as housekeeping, etc. The danger becomes that the nurses are focused less on patient care and more on juggling all of these other responsibilities as they are tacked on at the discretion of management. In your case, I'm not getting the impression that this is taking away from your patient care, but rather that it is just one more thing at the end of an exhausting day that you're being asked to do that didn't involve your nursing craft. And I think that's highly unfair. If you feel that you can safely approach your manager without repercussion and express your concern, I say go for it. We not only need to advocate for our patients, but also ourselves.

Mulan · Feb 8, 2014

At numerous jobs, nurses have had to dump bags down a laundry chute, but those chutes were probably at chest

height.

Lifting overhead is a different story.

How heavy are these bags? How many pounds are you required to lift in your job description?

Previous post about keeping bags small is a good idea.

When you go to your boss, take some written documentation about lifting overhead.

This article is about land care but is applicable to anything else.

http://www.landcarenetwork.org/riskmgmt/ssense/Mar09.pdf

I agree with you, it should be an orderly's job but it seems like everything is the nurse's job to save money.

If you still have to do it after talking to your boss, do make the bags smaller and lighter, but then you'll probably hear

about how much money it's costing in laundry bags. lol

Good luck and please come back and update.

nynursey_ · Feb 8, 2014

At numerous jobs, nurses have had to dump bags down a laundry chute, but those chutes were probably at chest
height.
Lifting overhead is a different story.
How heavy are these bags? How many pounds are you required to lift in your job description?
Previous post about keeping bags small is a good idea.
When you go to your boss, take some written documentation about lifting overhead.
This article is about land care but is applicable to anything else.
http://www.landcarenetwork.org/riskmgmt/ssense/Mar09.pdf
I agree with you, it should be an orderly's job but it seems like everything is the nurse's job to save money.
If you still have to do it after talking to your boss, do make the bags smaller and lighter, but then you'll probably hear
about how much money it's costing in laundry bags. lol
Good luck and please come back and update.

Great idea! Being armed with evidence to support your concerns is always a great idea, particularly since nursing is so concerned with EBP/EBR.

AngelicDarkness · Feb 8, 2014

Many job descriptions will include the line "and any other duties as assigned by the manager" or something similar. So yes, if they've made the determination that the nurses are responsible for taking care of the laundry bags, it is your job. I'm with Willy Nilly- don't make them too full, take turns, etc. to make it safer for you to do an assigned duty.

This sums up my employer. My employer doesn't do it to skimp other departments or degrade the nursing team. It comes down to additional duties until a solution is made.

wanderlust99 · Feb 9, 2014

I think that's a shame. We have EVS that come empty linens and techs that clean the beds and apply new linens to the gurneys. But I'm inpatient PACU so maybe an outpatient center is different. I'd be careful about going to management with this because you've only been there 2 months. Yes, lifting 20 lbs overhead seems quite dangerous.

CWONgal · Feb 9, 2014

I would think your facility would need to worry about employee safety/OSHA/workman's comp claims w/ having to hoist bags up into a dumpster....that should be a red flag. Unfortunately w/ quick turnover times the nurses often have to strip beds and haul linen. While it's aggravating I would try to look at it this way....we have jobs. I didn't realize there were so many people having issues finding jobs until I read through posts here!