Love the job, hate the logistics

[Guest957596]

My time to vent a bit. I've been on a de facto step-down/PCU unit that is designated med/surg. It's not. We have a great team of nurses, including the charge nurses. The problem is logistics and support. The supplies are not centralized or logically arranged. Dr's order SCUs and we don't have them on the floor. Suction manifolds and supplies are in several different areas and the manifolds don't always work or the wall mounts are broke. We get patients on high-risk drips, or get another non-compatible drip added and we need a midline or PICC placed. Guess what? The staffing is not there, especially on a weekend. Had a STAT PICC ordered a day before for one of my patients before I got on the floor for my shift and when I called Special Procedures to see when it would happen, I was told the PA doing them covered several hospitals and would probably get to it sometime later that day after he arrived. It's almost as bad during the week. Getting a tech assigned is based on numbers, not actual acuity. If you have 4 patients, no tech. Doesn't matter about the acuity. 5 or 6 patients gets you a tech. Keep getting told things will get better. I'm at a for-profit hospital. I had to look for a Dynamap portable as my patient's wall-mounted NIBP was broke. After looking around the floor several times, I told my charge nurse (the nurse manager was in close proximity). The nurse manager's response? "Oh, there's got to be one somewhere on the floor". I didn't tell her of my repeated searches and the one I found wasn't working and didn't have the connecting tubing for the cuff. So sick of this. I'm tired of being in the Stone Age!

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Unfortunately, this is the case in many hospitals. Find a new one with either A. More $ and/or B. Care about spending resources for things that matter like the things you described above.

[beekee]

I didn't have spoons or cups last time I worked, which isn't very unusual. One shift, I didn't have sheets. Blankets? Eh, it's about 50-50. We don't have vitals machines in the room, just a couple portable machines that are even taken in and out of isolation rooms. We don't even have individual cuffs. I'm waiting for a floor-wide c-diff outbreak. Fancy equipment? Ha! I'd be thrilled with a urinal.

But we get weekly emails on how we are suppose to provide excellent customer service. It isn't going to change.

[smf0903]

Maybe someone will do something when a patient dies from not having suctioning available? That's crazy. This is my thing: when you have to search hither and yon for stuff to do your job then it is a ginormous time-suck. The powers that be respond to $$$. If you can, try to figure out how much time is wasted per shift looking for crap that should be at the ready. Then figure out what kind of $$$ they are spending for you all to perform the great scavenger hunt per shift/day/week/whatever. When you get down to it, money talks.

Don't even get me started on PICC teams and such not available on the weekends...

[Graduatenurse14]

I think you work at my hospital!!

Mine has really great commercials that run on almost every channel in my region about what innovative, state of the art OR equipment they have and what great life-saving medical care but they always fail to mention that once your life is saved and you progress to a med-surg unit, you are screwed.

Bad RN:Patient ratios, not enough NA's, missing supplies, lack of other services available like PICC team or dietary or any number of others.

It gets less safe and satisfying the "healthier" a patient gets!!!