Name a stupid policy/idea your facility thought would fly

Creamsoda, ASN, RN · May 7, 2012

A former facility thought they could multi task the housekeepers by having them be lab techs. If they were in a room cleaning, they could drop their mops and get a few vials of blood for us. That lasted about a month before it was thankfully stopped.
I remember watching them learn to draw blood. They were given a 30 min tutorial on a rubber arm.

wow! What idiot really thought that would be a good idea. Good lord

Good Morning, Gil · May 7, 2012

OP, very few threads are that funny. That's awesome. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for the implementation of that. How did this work? Did they have scheduled times where they came to clean the rooms, the same time for routine lab draws? I bet you had a higher than usual number of nosocomial infections those few weeks the poor housekeepers were trying to do their jobs and be a phlebotomist.

tntrn, ASN, RN · May 7, 2012

Man. Now I want hot pockets. And I don't have any. Sad.

Please use your nurse call button, or better yet, call her on her communication device and after she tries again to get that IV started (the CD ring startled her and she blew the first attempt), she will be all over your hot pocket request!

allnurses Guide · May 7, 2012

Viva I worked at a LTC where I was the medication and treatment nurse on a wing on swing shift and also expected to stop in middle of med pass and go serve residents in the dining room as part of my duties. I and others were supposed to take turns but that rarely happened. The residents were aghast that their nurse had to do this as well. I no longer work there thank Goodness... lol

The one LTC that I have worked in, also had this exact policy. Ridiculous.

tokmom, BSN, RN · May 7, 2012

I'm surprised management didn't take it a step further and have centrifuges and other lab equipment installed in all the housekeeping carts (they are big enough after all)- labs could be run on the spot [i']and[/i] on the go.

:rotfl:

tokmom, BSN, RN · May 7, 2012

OP, very few threads are that funny. That's awesome. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for the implementation of that. How did this work? Did they have scheduled times where they came to clean the rooms, the same time for routine lab draws? I bet you had a higher than usual number of nosocomial infections those few weeks the poor housekeepers were trying to do their jobs and be a phlebotomist.

If I remember correctly, if we had a lab come up during the day, then housekeeping was to be doing the draw. The regular morning labs were still done by the techs themselves.

wooh, BSN, RN · May 7, 2012

If I remember correctly, if we had a lab come up during the day, then housekeeping was to be doing the draw. The regular morning labs were still done by the techs themselves.

Now the policy makes TOTAL sense!

PennyWise · May 7, 2012

I interviewed for a unit at a hospital I really wanted to work at and turned down the job because of a "new idea" the manager was eager to implement.

The idea: Patients being admitted to the unit from the ER were going to be transported to the unit by the unit RN. The RN would leave the unit, go to the ER, get the patient and transport them.

Later on, long after having declined the position, I asked a friend who worked at the same hospital how things were going. The manager who interviewed me was gone and the above "idea" had lasted no more than three weeks.

It didn't work because:

1. As usual, all the admits would occur during shift change. Nurses would be getting report and the phone would be ringing off the hook with the ER calling and telling them to come get their patients.

2. Too many RNs put off going and getting patients until right before shift change. Then they could avoid doing the admit paperwork (lol, first place ever where the unit nurses were the ones holding patients in the ER until shift change).

3. Too many nurses using the opportunity to take a smoke break. Between the "breathing treatment", getting paperwork in order and transporting the patient, they'd be gone for an hour.

We all float down here.

Editorial Team / Admin · May 7, 2012

PACU nurses would transport all post-op patients to their inpatient room. Slight problem: when the OR called to bring out patients, there weren't any nurses in PACU because either the nurse was off delivering a patient or they all already had two patients (max ratio at my hospital). Now, the only patients nurses transport are critical care or monitored. Occasionally still have to hold in the OR for one to get back, but nowhere near as bad as it was.

ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN · May 7, 2012

no scheduled meal times. pts can call dietary at any time during the day and eat whatever they want (dietary has their diets, and can tell them "youve reached your carb limit for the day" or "you are on a low sodium diet, you cant have that"), whenever they want between the hours of 6:30a-6:30p..

problems i have with this as a PCA:

half of my elderly confused pts dont understand it and just expect them to bring them something for breakfast, lunch and dinner. dietary will allow any patient to skip one meal without asking questions, so if i dont go around and make sure everyone has ordered something for breakfast that wants something, they dont get breakfast and no body does anything unless they complain.. if the same thing happens for lunch, dietary will call their room around 2pm or so to ask what they want.. most of them dont answer the phone. ughh

when im going around trying to get my i&o's and meal percentages, i never know what time to check. if i go too early, some people havent eaten yet, go to late and dietary has taken their tray.

nursing considerations: when to give insulin/take blood sugar? i take blood sugars at 730, and insulin is given around 8/8:30.. how does that effect the people who woke up at 630 and ordered breakfast, or the people who wait until 11?

its really inconvenient. were the only campus out of 5 in the network that does this, and i dont see it changing anytime soon.

brillohead, ADN, RN · May 7, 2012

half of my elderly confused pts dont understand it and just expect them to bring them something for breakfast, lunch and dinner. dietary will allow any patient to skip one meal without asking questions, so if i dont go around and make sure everyone has ordered something for breakfast that wants something, they dont get breakfast and no body does anything unless they complain.. if the same thing happens for lunch, dietary will call their room around 2pm or so to ask what they want.. most of them dont answer the phone. ughh

Hospitals in my area are doing this, but the RN has the option of putting confused patients on "auto-tray" -- they just have to enter it into the system.

And when dietary clears the trays, the room slip stays on the tray (it's like a receipt that shows what they ordered) and dietary inputs the meal percentages.

opossum · May 9, 2012

Our hospital just implemented a new policy where upon a pt's DC the RN has to strip the linens, suction canister liners, and...something else, I forget.

If I have time, I'll do it as a courtesy, but with 6 pts, it's not always a possibility.