I'm sorry. I really, really need to vent. I work for a pediatric private duty nursing agency, and I'm an RN. This is what I wish I could say to my new patient's mom: Why the heck would you ask your child's new night nurse to do her laundry?! When the hell did they put laundry questions on the NCLEX? Oh, yeah, they DIDN'T because NURSES AREN'T MAIDS! I'm not your kid's nanny, I'm a healthcare PROFESSIONAL - just like a physician. You wouldn't ask your pediatrician to do your kid's laundry, so you better not ask the nurse to do it, either! It's not 1950, anymore, Sparky!
Of course, I didn't say that. To be nice, I folded the kid's clothes tonight, but then I sent off an email to the clinical director at the agency complaining profusely about this insulting request. I mean, seriously! Where do people get the brass testicles to ask a nurse to do a maid's job?
Why do people automatically assume when they get private duty nursing covered by the state or their insurance that whoever is paying for it also thinks it's cool to provide you with housekeeping services? Isn't that insurance fraud? THe state doesn't want to pay for someone to do your kid's laundry. You can't ask me to do that! Not only is it DEGRADING to ask a healthcare professional to do laundry, it must be abuse of services. I hope to God above that no one at my agency told this woman that nurses do chores, because I will go all the way to the top of national corporate management if someone did. This better be an unfortunate misunderstanding on my patient's mom's part as to what nurses do and DO NOT do.
Has anyone else had to deal with this? I had one other patient's mom ask me if that was something we do, and she totally apologized for asking when I politely told her no. This new patient's mom guided me to the laundry room to make sure I understood how the machines work because she is assuming it's totally in my job description to do laundry. She didn't even ask, she just started out with "when you do her laundry..." Excuse me?! I clean the kid and his or her medical equipment. Nothing else! I'm not a home health aide (whose job it would possibly be). It's just not *my* job to do household chores!
OK, vent over. I feel a little better. Thanks for letting me vent.
And in response to the last persons post ... you're right, it's not your job as a cna to spend all your time doing maid services either! If you wanted to do that you would have applied to a maid company.
I'm sorry. I really, really need to vent. I work for a pediatric private duty nursing agency, and I'm an RN. This is what I wish I could say to my new patient's mom: Why the heck would you ask your child's new night nurse to do her laundry?! When the hell did they put laundry questions on the NCLEX? Oh, yeah, they DIDN'T because NURSES AREN'T MAIDS! I'm not your kid's nanny, I'm a healthcare PROFESSIONAL - just like a physician. You wouldn't ask your pediatrician to do your kid's laundry, so you better not ask the nurse to do it, either! It's not 1950, anymore, Sparky!
Of course, I didn't say that. To be nice, I folded the kid's clothes tonight, but then I sent off an email to the clinical director at the agency complaining profusely about this insulting request. I mean, seriously! Where do people get the brass testicles to ask a nurse to do a maid's job?
Why do people automatically assume when they get private duty nursing covered by the state or their insurance that whoever is paying for it also thinks it's cool to provide you with housekeeping services? Isn't that insurance fraud? THe state doesn't want to pay for someone to do your kid's laundry. You can't ask me to do that! Not only is it DEGRADING to ask a healthcare professional to do laundry, it must be abuse of services. I hope to God above that no one at my agency told this woman that nurses do chores, because I will go all the way to the top of national corporate management if someone did. This better be an unfortunate misunderstanding on my patient's mom's part as to what nurses do and DO NOT do.
Has anyone else had to deal with this? I had one other patient's mom ask me if that was something we do, and she totally apologized for asking when I politely told her no. This new patient's mom guided me to the laundry room to make sure I understood how the machines work because she is assuming it's totally in my job description to do laundry. She didn't even ask, she just started out with "when you do her laundry..." Excuse me?! I clean the kid and his or her medical equipment. Nothing else! I'm not a home health aide (whose job it would possibly be). It's just not *my* job to do household chores!
OK, vent over. I feel a little better. Thanks for letting me vent.
I think I may have already commented, not sure. But I totally get you. I too have been apalled by what I've been asked to do. I didn't graduate nursing school to fold laundry. Or clean poop stuck in the toilet as I once was almost asked to do ...or cook a meal! I too, like some have mentioned, have gotten non skilled cases that need an HHA instead of a nurse but thru the loopholes of getting a nurse anyway all because of something little like taking a feeding down or something all because I guess a HHA can't any thing with them. I have one patient that only has a nurse because of the aforementioned ... all I do that is a "nurse" skill is flush her tube and take down the feeding. Otherwise I'm tasked with changing and dressing her and driving her to a day program. They don't need a nurse ...they need a HHA!
As far as laundry goes.. my agency hasn't given clear expectations for staff or family. I think they try to please the family by saying yes the nurses do laundry but really I'm not so sure it's ok ...it's never been in the care plan! Nor has cooking! I'm also not a chef!
Like some have said I too don't mind doing skills below the nursing level ... it's just degrading whwn you are automatically expected to do things like laundry or cooking on day 1 as a regular duty ... it's a lot different to feel compelled to sincerely help out once in a while as compared to being oriented to the laundry room on day 1.
I'm starting a new job at a hospital in 2 weeks. And when things slow down will I run to collect everyone's laundry so I can wash it in the downtime? Will I clean dishes in between med passes? Probably not. So why are we expected to in the home? We are still nurses. Do I mind changing a brief in the hospital if I don't have other tasks to do? Of course not! Or wiping a spill of apple juice when the patient is eating lunch? Sure! Again, very different than just assuming nurses are maid's in the home setting . I just don't think the lines should be blurred in the home. Agencies need to properly assign nurses to the right cases and not give them HHA cases. If "customer service" is becoming larger than nursing services in home health or PDN, new nurses and student nurses nerd to have fair warning so they know what they're getting into if they choose nursing in the home setting.
I honestly would have no problem doing pretty much any household task if I had the time and it didn't hinder me from my primary focus of caring for the child.
I work nights, so the child is asleep for a good portion of the night. I would have a hard time refusing tasks because "it's not my job", then sitting on my phone surfing the Internet or whatever.
I don't really deem any task below me. And I personally think private duty nursing is a unique specialty unlike any other. It is much more holistic, if you will. All-encompassing.
Granted, I have time to do other things when the child is asleep. When the child is awake, it is all-consuming, and I am lucky to get to the bathroom! I can totally understand not being able to do much else when caring for the patient. I just have a hard time with refusing tasks and then using that time fiddling around doing nothing. Why not take that time to help out instead?
I honestly would have no problem doing pretty much any household task if I had the time and it didn't hinder me from my primary focus of caring for the child.
I work nights, so the child is asleep for a good portion of the night. I would have a hard time refusing tasks because "it's not my job", then sitting on my phone surfing the Internet or whatever.
I don't really deem any task below me. And I personally think private duty nursing is a unique specialty unlike any other. It is much more holistic, if you will. All-encompassing.
Granted, I have time to do other things when the child is asleep. When the child is awake, it is all-consuming, and I am lucky to get to the bathroom! I can totally understand not being able to do much else when caring for the patient. I just have a hard time with refusing tasks and then using that time fiddling around doing nothing. Why not take that time to help out instead?
Because then the parent expects it. And it puts other nurses in a bad position. The rest of us hear "nurse supernurse does it". Its not our job and it takes away from our job. We are there to monitor the pt and do nursing. It makes the other nurses look bad and feel bad when one nurse does that stuff and the rest of the nurses do what they are supposed to be doing. We are there to care for the child so the parent can work/run errands/rest. We are there to catch things the parent wouldn't catch and to be the Dr's eyes. We are there to teach the parent how to care for their child and to reinforce the proper way to care for their child. That is why they get hours. If a parent wants a maid, they need to hire one. If they want a babysitter for their 8 kids, they need to hire one. There are boundaries in place for a reason.
I know my opinion is in the minority and not popular, but it just seems silly to me to sit there doing nothing when I could be doing something useful and helpful.
For the record, the family I work with would never let me do any of that stuff, but I would be happy to if they wanted/ needed me to.
Hi everyone. i would just like to thank everyone who's commented on this thread over the years because it gave me the confidence recently to tell my agency about parents asking me to do laundry and wash out the baby bottles that i never even used. My coordinator was shocked that the mom was making these ridiculous requests and she immediately called her to tell her that that isn't allowed. I'm so glad that i had the support of fellow nurses on here because otherwise i might not have known that there was anything wrong with doing laundry. i agree, nurses are not maids. i am in my early 20s and recently graduated from a BSN program so i know i can be young / naive about certain nursing protocols, but this just felt a little off that i was being asked to do laundry, even if folding baby clothes is easy. I never have those responsibilities in the hospital, we usually just strip the beds (if we have time and there's no aide) and then put them in the laundry bin for environmental services. and i agree, we never learned how to do laundry in nursing school making hospital beds, yes, but laundry? no. thank you for teaching me at the beginning of my career that I deserve to respect myself more than what i was doing.
I never have those responsibilities in the hospital, we usually just strip the beds (if we have time and there's no aide) and then put them in the laundry bin for environmental services. and i agree, we never learned how to do laundry in nursing school making hospital beds, yes, but laundry? no. thank you for teaching me at the beginning of my career that I deserve to respect myself more than what i was doing.
We actually had a washer and dryer in the NICU where I worked and washed babies' stuff all the time. Maybe that's why it's just not a big deal to me.
For the record, the family I work with would never let me do any of that stuff, but I would be happy to if they wanted/ needed me to.
There's a BIG differen6ce between being VOLUNTARILY HELPFUL and being MANDATORILY EXPECTED to do so.
You setup everyone else for the unrealistic norm as explained so well by PP SDALPN. How would you feel about mowing the lawn just because the last nurse did it when she took kiddo out for some fresh air????
Sorry, I didn't go to Merry Maids Academy or Lawns Are Us Tech Institute.
Some of the horror stories of nurses being abused/ taken advantage unprofessionally could make your toes curl! (They have been posted here on several other posts. Just read on if you want to snort your coffee at some home clients' chutzpah!).
You did remind me of one NH where we had a W/D on the unit for alert pts' use and some other pts needs at times. It stopped when some families started bringing in their home laundry and using facility equip/supplies. Then there were the families who put their own items into Nana's hamper and expected the staff to do all that extra special laundry for Nana.
(Those kinds of ballsy people remind me of Mr & Mrs Howell on Gilligan Island - feeling priviledged & entitled on someone else's dime.)
elle23, not sure where you're from, but i've worked in 4 different states so far, and i'm currently in NYC. what New York Nurses have taught me is that there's a level of respect for ourselves as RNs and other skilled professionals, even in the moments of typical NYC frustration, that i haven't found in many other places. i dont know if it's because of the 'get stuff done' attitude of mostly everyone in the city, and we really don't have time to take BS from patients, MDs, families, etc. but; i would just like to say; who actually cares if laundry isn't a big deal to you??? because nursing isn't about you?? and if you had any respect for yourself as a skilled professional and more importantly for other nurses you would stop acting oh so holier than thou that you don't care about doing laundry? i've worked in a NICU also with a washer and dryer, but it was never the RNs job to do that. but like i said, you could be from somewhere in the midwest or wherever, and i've heard that there's still some backwards thinking going on there so maybe it isn't entirely your fault but yeah, why do you think the nurses on this thread, who are talking about how they feel disrespected by doing household chores that the caregivers are supposed to do, would want to hear your opinion that invalidates their views, thereby disrespecting them, and really doesn't do anything to help.
elle23, not sure where you're from, but i've worked in 4 different states so far, and i'm currently in NYC. what New York Nurses have taught me is that there's a level of respect for ourselves as RNs and other skilled professionals, even in the moments of typical NYC frustration, that i haven't found in many other places. i dont know if it's because of the 'get stuff done' attitude of mostly everyone in the city, and we really don't have time to take BS from patients, MDs, families, etc. but; i would just like to say; who actually cares if laundry isn't a big deal to you??? because nursing isn't about you?? and if you had any respect for yourself as a skilled professional and more importantly for other nurses you would stop acting oh so holier than thou that you don't care about doing laundry? i've worked in a NICU also with a washer and dryer, but it was never the RNs job to do that. but like i said, you could be from somewhere in the midwest or wherever, and i've heard that there's still some backwards thinking going on there so maybe it isn't entirely your fault but yeah, why do you think the nurses on this thread, who are talking about how they feel disrespected by doing household chores that the caregivers are supposed to do, would want to hear your opinion that invalidates their views, thereby disrespecting them, and really doesn't do anything to help.
1. I am completely entitled to my views and have as much right to express them as anyone else. I have not been rude or inappropriate to anyone in this thread.
2. Not thinking laundry is a big deal does not make me "holier than thou". It just means I don't think doing laundry is a big deal.
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
That very well may be.
I would still have a problem saying "sorry no, I won't do that" and then sitting down on my cell phone and playing candy crush.
Well you shouldn't be playing games on your cell phone either. That's grounds for termination at my agency. Glancing through a book or magazine while a client sleeps is one thing. Putting away the patient's belongings or supplies not over the top. Washing dishes or laundry that you soiled not unexpected.
making hospital beds, yes, but laundry? no. thank you for teaching me at the beginning of my career that I deserve to respect myself more than what i was doing.
tinybbynurse
196 Posts
And in response to the last persons post ... you're right, it's not your job as a cna to spend all your time doing maid services either! If you wanted to do that you would have applied to a maid company.