Minimum PACU staffing, Maximum hospital hours

what is unbearable hours and load?

Originally posted by YADA-YADA:

what is unbearable hours and load?

Hour? I am the CN in the unit. I work from 0900 to 1730...We, for two years have been holding all the ICU, CCU, PCU patients, usually due to "staffing" in these units,sometimes for lack of beds. Recently, we have been holding the floor patients also.

This is what's happening..I worked an hour late that day

and was on call that evening. (call is from 2030 - 0700) Came back in at 2030, stayed all

night with our patient in ICU, went home, slept 2 hours and came back and worked until 0100 that day(was on call that night also).

I have talked to admin. They say we're trying

and that' all I get. There are 7 fte's in this department. No midnight shift, they took that away. They also did away with our secretary, resp Therapist and Transporter.

We do from 10 t0 30 cases a day. We do all specialties, from ECT's to hearts. And my morning crew has to go to SHA to help them.

By the way, this call thing happened 3 times last week, and is staring this week all over again. This has been happening like I said

for a couple of years, but is getting worse.

By the way, our unit has room for 8 patients.

nice and modern, but small.

I am not a cry baby, I've been an RN for 21 years. Background in ICU, CCU, & PACU.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Sounds as if you need a break! Hang in there. With information perhaps you can make a difference for yourself, coworkers and the patients. There are ASPAN "Position Statements" on their web site at http://www.aspan.org

Look under "Position Statements." There is one on "Minimum Staffing in Phase I PACU", "ICU Overflow Patients", and "On-Call/Work Schedule." Hope this information helps. Keep us informed and I hope your patient load becomes easier until you can get a plan in place to care for the patients without working such long hours. If you want, I can get you in touch with some of the organization's state component leaders for support. Carolyn

I CAN HEAR YOU! We are also experiencing the "holding pattern" of patients exactly as you are! Some changes that we had implemented--We scheduled one (1) RN in-house from 11P-7A. The second one is on-call. We have a good relationship with our OR, so usually, we can get one of them to sit with us. Remember, it doesn't have to be an RN..sometimes that can make the difference! We ARE utlizing PRN to cover second call on the weekend! WE had to due to exactly what you are talking about--our administration wouldn't listen either until we all sat on the floor one day--did not allow any surgeries to continue unless Administration came down and met with us...hang in there.....stick together....you can get what you need by showing them that you MEAN BUSINESS!!