Magnet...They're Here...

Published

Oh, goodness, the dreaded surveyors will be in today. I have seen the most ridiculous antics by our sorry administrators in the 11th hour.

1. I was outside having my cigarette break, and within 20 minutes, I saw banners placed outside with pictures of staff and head nurses (including their full names and departments). Looked like a hall of flags. Many of the nurses were outraged, because they did not give permission for their likeness to be plastered so large that any car on the parkway can see their image, full name, and department they worked for.

2. The administrators were running around with vases of live floral arrangements and placed them EVERYWHERE, including front desks and hallways. Some of the patients and staff with allergies were damned near choking to death.

3. Charge nurse calls administration to ask for an additional nurse. Response: "What is a one word adjective to describe your CNO"? Charge nurse says "****, if she doesn't send me another staff member". Second call from another clinic for the same reason; response is "What is the 14th Force of Magnet"? It is like if you can answer a trivia question, you can get what you want.

4. 5:00pm, signs everywhere in our clinic demanding that we come in tomorrow morning at 8:00am. Period.

5. Message to our clinic; "They are arriving to you guys at 12:00. Do not see patients for that time". I mean, I thought we were here for patient care. Also, they cut down the panel to have less patients for the next three days. I feel sorry for the ones that need a refill for their meds.

I am so sick of this fake mess; they are not acknowledging the LPNs except to crowd a room. I am an LPN, and I have no issue that Magnet is geared towards the RNs, and I am not a bitter LPN. However, I do feel that one of those banners should have had an LPN's likeness on it (with her permission, of course...and I would not have volunteered). It is basically saying that we are the step children.

Wish me luck, guys, I'm goin' in to battle:angryfire:angryfire It is like a college hazing, and we were told that we may not get official word of the results for three months. Merry Christmas to the butt-holes.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

I agree with Leslie, they aren't so dumb they can't realize what is fluff and what really goes on. I've been through this twice. Once when we received Magnet Status, and another five years later when we prettied up and they declined our application for rewnal and we lost Magnet Status.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
you know, pagan, they really can see through all the b.s.

don't you think surveyors will recognize that lpns deserve as much recognition as rns?

that every hcw is a part of the team?

these people know what they're looking for.

(i hope i'm not being naive)

just stay true to yourself and your pts.

the things you write of, are laughable.

leslie

I sincerely hope that whenever these folks get back, they will see through the B.S. I fully comprehend that Magnet is RN focused, and I have no issue with that, really. I decided before I went to school that I didn't wish to become an RN, because I admitted to myself that I would fold under that sort of pressure and responsibility. However, I AM a NURSE (of course, with a different scope of practice and less education), and moreso, I am a team player. Some LPNs are bitter against Registered Nurses, but I don't feel that way. It is annoying, though, that we have basically been treated like step-children in this process. In order to show that administration works with their nurses, they offered 12 hour shifts to RNs, but LPNs had to beg for it for close to a year. All of the banners that were displayed were for RNs, and not ONE pic of an LPN. I would not have volunteered to be plastered all over the parkway, but there are plenty of LPNs who should have been fairly recognized. They wanted us to parrot all of the forces like the Stepford Wives in support of them, but meanwhile, be ignored.

I want everyone to know that I am not against RNs, this is not a bash. But, come on...be for real!! How about acknowledging ALL of your nurses?? No man, no nurse is an island...we need to work together.

Actually, even most of the RNs (except for the favorites) were basically ignored. They ordered a great deal of food for these surveyors and yet, after they cancelled, NOTHING was offered to us for the hard work we did to appease these idiots. No PA announcement thanking us, or inviting us to enjoy a decent meal. I would not have gone, but it would have been nice to be asked. We were forced and intimidated to participate in this circus and have eggs in our faces. Next time the child calls 'wolf', we might just laugh and get caught with our pants down. :lol2::lol2:

I always seemed to be scheduled off during JCAHO, Magnet, etc. TPTB don't want me anywhere near the place during an inspection. I've even volunteered to come in and help out... "Oh no, that's ok! You just have a really good day off!"

:lol2:

Corporate came through one night during a major computer downtime. They went floor to floor asking the charge nurses questions on how things were going. Computer downtime was a pain in the butt on the best of nights--- everything we did was on computer. But administration, in their infinite wisdom, decided this would be a good time to cut off all water to the facility for the entire shift. During the height of gastroenteritis/flu season. And just to make it interesting, they also decided this would be a great time to install new plumbing on all patient toilets.

In the middle of the freakin' night.

Big, burly plumbers walking in on little old ladies, scaring (literally) the crap out of 'em. Over half of our patients had diarrea and vomiting. No running water. They gave us little bottles of hand sanitizer to use between patients. An oncology floor, with neutropenic patients...

A tub was filled on another floor, and we were told to get buckets of water if we absolutely had to flush a toilet; to "forcefully throw the water" into the toilet to make it go down. Yeah. Right.

Anyway, these administrative idiots came up to me during this mess. The floor smelled like a damned sewer. Patients raising hell because they had no water to drink or to wash with after their explosive stools.

So when I was "surveyed" I told them exactly what I thought and did not sugar-coat it in any way. I also asked them why the geniuses who thought this up didn't talk to each other to ensure that we weren't hit with so many issues all at once.

I ended up being counseled over that. Because I was "negative" :lol2:

I actually saved it. Maybe I can carry it around while wearing a disguise...:lol2::lol2:

http://www.cafepress.com/deeksdigs.48529459

I dare you :)

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I always seemed to be scheduled off during JCAHO, Magnet, etc. TPTB don't want me anywhere near the place during an inspection. I've even volunteered to come in and help out... "Oh no, that's ok! You just have a really good day off!"

:lol2:

Corporate came through one night during a major computer downtime. They went floor to floor asking the charge nurses questions on how things were going. Computer downtime was a pain in the butt on the best of nights--- everything we did was on computer. But administration, in their infinite wisdom, decided this would be a good time to cut off all water to the facility for the entire shift. During the height of gastroenteritis/flu season. And just to make it interesting, they also decided this would be a great time to install new plumbing on all patient toilets.

In the middle of the freakin' night.

Big, burly plumbers walking in on little old ladies, scaring (literally) the crap out of 'em. Over half of our patients had diarrea and vomiting. No running water. They gave us little bottles of hand sanitizer to use between patients. An oncology floor, with neutropenic patients...

A tub was filled on another floor, and we were told to get buckets of water if we absolutely had to flush a toilet; to "forcefully throw the water" into the toilet to make it go down. Yeah. Right.

Anyway, these administrative idiots came up to me during this mess. The floor smelled like a damned sewer. Patients raising hell because they had no water to drink or to wash with after their explosive stools.

So when I was "surveyed" I told them exactly what I thought and did not sugar-coat it in any way. I also asked them why the geniuses who thought this up didn't talk to each other to ensure that we weren't hit with so many issues all at once.

I ended up being counseled over that. Because I was "negative" :lol2:

:angryfireUnbelieveable!!!:madface:

I was really pissed off to see the live floral arrangements; between the allergies (I guess we are supposed to walk with a utility belt armed with epinephrine and benadryl), and neutropenic patients walking these halls, I can see nurses running our buns off when they are over trying to care for a new crop of really sick people. :angryfire:angryfire

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
You'll see...:trout:

I had two buttons I'd sometimes wear to work. One was the "handbasket" thing, the other said "I'm surrounded by idiots". They were under my jacket, and no one could see them.... but I knew they were there :lol2:

My daughter works for a magnet facility. Her unit is a complete dump. Her manager is useless. A nurse who is abusive is getting his job back after he got an attorney, despite multiple patient and staff complaints. I think other units in the hospital are better, but I thought magnet was the whole package. The huge billboard on the interstate trumpeting this facility's Magnet status and pt. safety award make me want to gag every time I see it. On the other hand, another facility where she does most of her clinicals is a magnet-wannabe. That facility is innovative and encourages their nurses to grow. If I lived closer, I'd be applying for a job there. It seems like a great place. Let's hope this is not just window dressing for greedy admin's who want to look good. It is sad that many of these awards become pretty hollow when they are awarded to more and more places.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
My daughter works for a magnet facility. Her unit is a complete dump. Her manager is useless. A nurse who is abusive is getting his job back after he got an attorney, despite multiple patient and staff complaints. I think other units in the hospital are better, but I thought magnet was the whole package. The huge billboard on the interstate trumpeting this facility's Magnet status and pt. safety award make me want to gag every time I see it. On the other hand, another facility where she does most of her clinicals is a magnet-wannabe. That facility is innovative and encourages their nurses to grow. If I lived closer, I'd be applying for a job there. It seems like a great place. Let's hope this is not just window dressing for greedy admin's who want to look good. It is sad that many of these awards become pretty hollow when they are awarded to more and more places.

One of the main players of this fiasco broke the HIPPA law by going into another employee's medical file and spread that person's business throughout the hospital. Now, would I want to advise friends and loved ones to come here??:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I had two buttons I'd sometimes wear to work. One was the "handbasket" thing, the other said "I'm surrounded by idiots". They were under my jacket, and no one could see them.... but I knew they were there :lol2:

I guess that since we are not really included in the mix, I can wear a button under my shirt saying "I'm NOT one of THEM..."

That would make me feel good. The things nurses have to do for therapy is hilarious. That's a cute idea!

Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

Food for thought based upon the real forces of magnetism:

"This is an illustration of how magnetism works.

For simple magnets, the force of magnetism works in the following way: When two magnets are brought together, the force will attract the two magnets together if the poles are opposite, that is if the pole of the first magnet is positive and the pole of the second magnet is negative. If that condition is true, the two magnets will be "forced" to stick together.

If two magnets of the same polarity are brought together, the force of magnetism will repel the two magnets from each other, and they cannot be made to stick together."

Makes me think about what made her sick

Sorry you have to put up with all this, just remember it's almost over and maybe an unannounced visit is in the works. Wouldn't that be nice.

Oh, pagandeva, I sooooooooooooooooo feel your pain! I wonder how long it will take before they come back?

When we went through the magnet rigamarole last year, they had the staff of the hospital line up outside along the driveway and wave and cheer as they drove up. I mean, good gods!!!!! At least we do have a really outstanding facility at the base of all the bs, but the bs was getting really deep there for awhile!

Hopefully it will all be over soon.

And I tend to have quite a few t-shirts that have sayings on them that I tend to wear under my scrubs. No one else knows they are there, but I get a great amount of joy knowing that I have happy bunny on my chest saying something pithy.

I get my joy where I can some days!

Good luck with the ordeal! Keep us posted!

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