New MRI addition, fancy remodeling projects, but wheelchair shortage!

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2009

I've always been able to find wheelcahirs but never the right legs.

Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Feb 15, 2009

When I work in the ICU stepdown and need a wheelchair, they are never around. I'll search the entire floor which consists of 3 different units and still not find one. When I don't need one, I'll see them grazing all around the halls, just hanging out.

When I work in the ED, I almost giggle with glee at how many we have down there (and they ALL have leg supports!)

Oh, it's the little things that makes us happy, huh?

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2009

On the same note, why is it my hospital can afford to build a brand new hospital, plus buy out another, yet in the same breathe say we are in a "budget crunch" and lay off 500 people. :down:

rngolfer53 · Feb 15, 2009

Why is it that the hospital where I work will spend millions on remodeling, but is too cheap to buy more wheelchairs. I can't tell you how much time we'll spend searching for one. I had to leave the floor and search for a wheelchair over the whole hospital the other day! Really ridiculous!
Anyone run into the same thing?

Wheelchairs are like socks. Something eats them. :uhoh3: Probably something large, stealthy, and that has jaws that eat metal. :eek:

MissERN · Feb 15, 2009

Wow...I thought my hospital was the only one with this problem. I work in the ER and we always need them to pull people out of cars, but often they are nowhere to be found. Where do they go? And when we do have one you can forget about leg rests...I like it (note the sarcasm) when I have a patient who is long legged and too weak to pick their legs up, because then I have to roll them backwards. And we have one without arms...can anyone say lawsuit?!?!? I also appreciate it when the only one in the department is the "skinny one" and my pt is anything but...yeah, I almost got a guy stuck in that one the other day. I'll stop here, but this is a pet peeve...

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Feb 15, 2009

At the hospital where I volunteer, wheelchairs tend to migrate. MRIs and hospital wings are hard to move.

justavolunteer · Feb 16, 2009

I am luckier now. I used to volunteer at a hospital that was always short of EVERYTHING. The only problem now is that our transport team disappears with all the close-at-hand wheelchairs sometimes. There are plenty at the entrance, but it's a pretty good hike.

whipping girl in 07, RN · Feb 16, 2009

On the same note, why is it my hospital can afford to build a brand new hospital, plus buy out another, yet in the same breath say we are in a "budget crunch" and lay off 500 people.

Because they come from different columns of the budget. My particular facility has a fund that's only for building projects, it was endowed by some bigwig when he died and legally they can only use that money for buildings...not for staff to run them or electricity in them!

It's the same reason the hospital I used to work for would bring in travelers rather than pay us $5 more an hour so we wouldn't leave and go travel. Or had us do mandatory OT rather than fill open positions. Different budget line items.

It might make sense to an accountant...

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 16, 2009

Our hospital has the dubious honour of being the site of a huge cardiac sciences institute that has eaten up $220 million since they first stuck the shovel in the dirt. The grand opening was May 1, 2008. As of February 15, 2009, the building remains empty and still under construction. The world-class physicians and surgeons hired to work there are essentially twiddling their thumbs because the current capacity of cardiac sciences can't absorb them.

Meanwhile, our PICU has one cooling blanket that we often move from bed to bed when we have more than one kid needing it. Or else we pack them in ice. The adult units refuse to lend us theirs anymore. We can never find a thermometer or diaper scale; there's never enough linen or suction regulators. When we need a wheelchair our nursing attendant spends an hour searching the hospital for one. It's totally ridiculous.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2009

I found a wheelchair today on Ortho/Neuro, grabbed it and was making a quick getaway with in in order to wheel out a discharged pt for a colleague. One of the nurses there saw me, made eye contact and authoritatively said "Be sure to bring that back!"

I gave a half smile thinking to myself 'Ha!, you bet I'll bring it back. I'll bring it back to my floor and stick it in our equipment room when I'm done!'.

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2009

Our system is making a medical center of theirs into a full fledged hosptial. The walkways on the main floor have been designed to look like main street. Organic food for the patients, much advertising, spa services, plasma tv's, area for family to camp out in the room. Kitchenettes in the room. Adding ICU beds to main hosptial and fancy new floor with all private rooms to main hospital as well. But my unit needs new bedside monitors, and we haven't gotten them. I just don't get it. We were going to get them, but then they repainted and placed computers at every bedside for bedside compter charting and didn't give us the monitors. Sucks to have the pulse ox constatnly beeping and not reading because you have already changed the box, now the cord and still not working. I hope we get new monitors soon. Would be a big improvement.