Well this is just #965,543,384,932 of annoying and innapropriate things that happen at my job.I was in the middle of doing something for pt A when pt B needed something,and it had been a while since it was requested.Since I was in the middle of something with pt A I ask where Nurse X is since she has pt B assigned to this nurse.
Turns out Nurse X,Nurse Y,and Nurse Z went to a banquet.I guess management came through and found favorites and asked if they wanted to go.I was in a pts room (you know,actually working,so I didnt know about any of this). These nurses also did not receive awards,or were they 'specifically' invited as guests since it was technically open to any nurse.They were given a normal pt load that day and it was never mentioned that any of us would get to go to the banquet.
Maybe I am just testy but how is it fair that they get to go and sit at an awards banquet while I have to take care of their pt load and mine.
Also nobody ever told me,until I 'found out.' Am I over-reacting?Things like this take place on a daily basis.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Well this is just #965,543,384,932 of annoying and innapropriate things that happen at my job.I was in the middle of doing something for pt A when pt B needed something,and it had been a while since it was requested.Since I was in the middle of something with pt A I ask where Nurse X is since she has pt B assigned to this nurse.
Turns out Nurse X,Nurse Y,and Nurse Z went to a banquet.I guess management came through and found favorites and asked if they wanted to go.I was in a pts room (you know,actually working,so I didnt know about any of this). These nurses also did not receive awards,or were they 'specifically' invited as guests since it was technically open to any nurse.They were given a normal pt load that day and it was never mentioned that any of us would get to go to the banquet.
Maybe I am just testy but how is it fair that they get to go and sit at an awards banquet while I have to take care of their pt load and mine.
Also nobody ever told me,until I 'found out.' Am I over-reacting?Things like this take place on a daily basis.
I was a manager and a hospital supervisor before that. This would have been written up by me as the shift supervisor and gone directly to the director of nursing. Those staff nurses would have been in big time trouble, possibly terminated for walking off the unit without telling you where and what they were doing. The nursing staff who left the floor without informing you, the only other nurse, that they were going are pretty close to abandoning their patients and putting them in jeopardy. You should write the whole thing up and make sure it goes to your nurse manager. This is a patient safety issue and probably a violation of your state nurse practice act. Shame on those nurses that walked off the unit without saying a word to you. They should at least get a serious talking to if not disciplined. And the management people who went around doing all this inviting need to be warned that patient care is #1, not a party!
I would have to respectfully disagree with the posters whe blame the 2 staff nurses. When the manager excused them to go to the banquet, the MANAGER accepted responsibility for care of the patients. If the manager did not 'report off' to another nurse, then it is the MANAGER who abandoned the patients. I would report the manager directly to the BRN. That manager could well be in deep trouble with the BRN.
Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.
I would write this up as an incident report if the nurses who left did not handover the patients. And no it isn't fair to dump their patients onto the nurses who weren't invited either.
You took the words right out of my mouth Scrubby...
Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.
I would have to respectfully disagree with the posters whe blame the 2 staff nurses. When the manager excused them to go to the banquet, the MANAGER accepted responsibility for care of the patients. If the manager did not 'report off' to another nurse, then it is the MANAGER who abandoned the patients. I would report the manager directly to the BRN. That manager could well be in deep trouble with the BRN.
I figure it wouldn't matter who was at fault. Write the incident report objectively, and allow the powers that be to investigate as they see fit. Thank goodness nothing happened, is all I can say!
We had this type of problem when a lot of the staffers were attending our unit meeting (which ran over an hour) and simply leaving their assignments to those of us who had the sense to attend a meeting when we were not working.
I was more than a tad annoyed because I had NO IDEA about any of these patients. We complained to the manager and that was the end of that problem. Thank goodness we have a very responsive manager.
In your case, I think you should bring it up the chain of command till you get action. That's not fair to you and certainly presents a danger to the patients. Literally anything could've happened while they were gone and you were unaware that you were covering.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
I would have to respectfully disagree with the posters whe blame the 2 staff nurses. When the manager excused them to go to the banquet, the MANAGER accepted responsibility for care of the patients. If the manager did not 'report off' to another nurse, then it is the MANAGER who abandoned the patients. I would report the manager directly to the BRN. That manager could well be in deep trouble with the BRN.
I doubt that. Management is the direction of other people in order to get work done, not doing the work oneself. The manager probably should have reminded the staff nurses to report off, but it shouldn't have been necessary. Who even said the manager was an RN? I didn't get that from the original post. A manager does not need to be an RN. It could have been someone from administration. I know of plenty of instances where facilities have put business people in as managers of hospital units. In a case like that the BRN would have no authority to do anything to a nonlicensed person who told an RN to do something. They would, however, have plenty to say about an RN who followed the directions of a nonlicensed person and violated the state nursing law. That RN license we carry presumes we know the nursing laws in our state.
The nurses who took report on the patients were obligated to give report to someone before they left the unit. If they didn't, they didn't perform a job duty and technically could be officially disciplined for that. Most seriously, they might have fit the legal description of patient abandonment in their state. The staff nurses need to read their job descriptions and the state nurse practice act again. A staff nurse is always responsible for their own (in)actions with regard to the care of the patients in their charge.
i would write this up as an incident report if the nurses who left did not handover the patients. and no it isn't fair to dump their patients onto the nurses who weren't invited either.
happens all the time in my hospital.
a group of nurses would leave the floor at the same time to have tea.
that's a bunch of beeping iv pumps and feeding pumps and patient lights.
incident reports are useless, as i have discovered that the supervisor has the authority to "hold" incident reports at the supervisor's level if the supervisor determines that the incident is resolved.
so it pays to suck up as you can (maybe) get away with murder.
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Daytonite, BSN, RN
1 Article; 14,604 Posts
I was a manager and a hospital supervisor before that. This would have been written up by me as the shift supervisor and gone directly to the director of nursing. Those staff nurses would have been in big time trouble, possibly terminated for walking off the unit without telling you where and what they were doing. The nursing staff who left the floor without informing you, the only other nurse, that they were going are pretty close to abandoning their patients and putting them in jeopardy. You should write the whole thing up and make sure it goes to your nurse manager. This is a patient safety issue and probably a violation of your state nurse practice act. Shame on those nurses that walked off the unit without saying a word to you. They should at least get a serious talking to if not disciplined. And the management people who went around doing all this inviting need to be warned that patient care is #1, not a party!