More about budget, not enough about pt. care

[spasta]

I have worked at the same hospital for six years now as a CNA and I am getting ready to graduate nursing school. When I first started I don't really remember hearing about the budget and about money as much, I remember it being more on patient care. However, I feel like it could be because I pay more attention now than I did before. I feel like I am so tired of hearing about budget, I understand that hospitals are businesses too, but there is a reason why I did not get a business degree and there is a reason I do not want to be a manager. Are all hospitals this way or is it just the one I am working for? Is it wrong that I do not want to hear about a budget and I truly could care less and just want to take care of patients?

[Sour Lemon]

I have worked at the same hospital for six years now as a CNA and I am getting ready to graduate nursing school. When I first started I don't really remember hearing about the budget and about money as much, I remember it being more on patient care. However, I feel like it could be because I pay more attention now than I did before. I feel like I am so tired of hearing about budget, I understand that hospitals are businesses too, but there is a reason why I did not get a business degree and there is a reason I do not want to be a manager. Are all hospitals this way or is it just the one I am working for? Is it wrong that I do not want to hear about a budget and I truly could care less and just want to take care of patients?

It's always been about budget and it's never been about patient care. You're not going to be working for free, are you? Healthcare is big business. People who don't accept that seem to be less happy with their work and burn out much faster.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

I admit that when I learned the cost of supplies I used for dressing changes I was a little more conscientious about not wasting any if it could be helped.

[klone, MSN, RN]

As a manager, I like to be transparent with staff regarding budget, productivity, etc. Even though their job is taking care of the patients, I want them to understand why I might make a certain decision. Sharing that information with the charge nurses also helps them better understand the importance of flexing staff based on the census, and how doing that affects the hospital's bottom line.

Fact is, hospitals ARE businesses, and if they can't meet their bottom line, people lose jobs. That should concern everyone.

[evastone, BSN, RN]

We had an unusually quiet summer one year; that fall there were talks of layoffs due to a decreasing number of patients and lack of revenue. No one's job was safe. Then winter came along and it was the busiest season we had in a long while. By springtime there were no more layoffs and new people were being hired. These days when I have an unbelievably awful night where the ER is swamped with no standing space and no rooms for our admitted patients I try to comfort myself with the fact that there will hopefully be no budget issues this year.

Yes, it is always about the money. It pays for our supplies, equipment, and most importantly, my paycheck. I love taking care of my patients but I can't afford to do it for free and neither can the hospital.

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

Clinicians think of budgets as just money. It would be more appropriate to think in terms of resources, not money. You are a valuable resource and your time is a valuable resource.

If you do not care about "money" do you care about how many CNAs there are or how many patients you are assigned? It is the same thing...

The fact is that everything takes resources and resources are not unlimited. It is extremely harmful to the profession and to our patients if we are orientated if not well versed in resource management and allocation. We are all taught to critically think and triage our patients, you know even the whole ABC thing? Healthcare is best seen as a living and breathing organism and requires critical thinking and triage as well.