Nurses as secretaries

Nurses General Nursing

Published

This is an idea that I feel is very unsound in nursing, and that is to place a nurse in the role of secretary for the day. Because our hospital has frozen hiring now, and because we can't keep a secretary to save our lives, now we as nurses are starting to be assigned as secretaries for the shift.

I feel this is just outright stupidity and a human resource management issue. You take a degreed person w/ nursing skills and make them work in an administrative role? Why? I mean -- you're basically paying a person almost $30 per hour to enter orders.

In this job market, there would be plenty of folks who would be willing to do the job temporarily, or as part of a pool, perhaps w/o benefits, or part time, or whatever. I don't get it. Isn't this a waste of money/human resources?

And then we have nurses on the flloor who can do it, and are very good at it -- and management loves them. Meanwhile, I can't do the job, because I feel it's sort of complicated. I mean -- you've got to know what your'e doing, especially on day shift -- so now I feel inadquate that I can't do the job! If I ask for a training day, they look at me like I'm nuts -- oh, you just jump in and do it -- and get trained on the way.

But I still feel it's an improper use of clinical personnel.

Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Sorry, my sympathies only go so far. On night shift I am the nurse and the secretary; and I don't make close to 30.

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As is I said: I do understand why OP feels the way she does, but to be just careful not to come across as condescending towards other positions or as a "non team player" when in the work place. There's a bigger picture here that we must not miss. I have never been a nurse manager, but in my previous career I have managed many ppl (as many as 200+ at one point) and I can promise u that the ones who came across as "non team players" and weren't willing to pitch in outside their scope of work were most definitely remembered when it came time for lay-offs. The way the job market is for nurses nowadays, I'd hate to see anyone who doesn't deserve to show up on the manager's radar... I was just trying to be helpful, many times our emotions take over n we can come across as something we didn't intend... That's all. :)

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Hey, my hours are being cut do to low census almost every week. So far in March, I have lost 1200 to my paychecks. :crying2: If they want to pay me almost 40 bucks an hour to 'helm the ship', I'll do it. I don't care what I do as long as I keep my hours. I'd even mop floors. If management is that dumb, then so be it.

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I am now a unit manager. I realized a few weeks in that I'm a super secretary with advanced administrative and clinical skills. That's all. It ain't rocket science.

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Specializes in MSP, Informatics.

if we have a lot of Unit clerk call ins, they will sometimes ask an LPN or RN to come in and do the unit clerk job. The nurses all should know how to take off the orders, put together a chart, ect. We have to check all the transcribed orders...how do you check something you dont' know how to do? We just arn't nearly as fast as our Unit clerks at taking off orders!

Yea, they pay a lot more to have an RN do that job....but the alternative is to not cover the desk, and expect everyone else to take off orders, and take turns ansering the phones and handing stuff to the Doctors, who god forbid, would have to actually read the sign on the file cabinet and find the paperwork themselfs!

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

I don't feel that the OP was downplaying or demeaning anyone.Maybe she/he could clarify their post? I understand it to mean that this practice is not fiscally responsible and I get that. I have worked a number of shifts as a cna since I became an LPN (others will refuse-lpn's as well an rn's) duw to shortstaffing.The unit secreatary has a really demanding job-the OP admits she can't do it all.Someone needs to figure out why they are dropping like flies-could it be the pay?

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Specializes in Cardiology (ITU), Acute Renal/Dialysis.
There are many place that have Total Care:for them that means transcribing all of your orders, completing all ADLs plus assessments, meds. etc.

This is something we did on nights for years and years. When I transitioned to days the day secretaries were stunned that I could pretty much take care of things myself if needed.

yeah we all do that on our ward now on days :nurse:

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Considering I am secretary, nurse, tech, and gofer when I am on call on the weekends, I wouldn't mind being "just a secretary."

What a nice break!

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I worked in LTC facilities where it was the nurses who transcribed the orders. No such thing as a unit secretary in those places, at least not where I have worked. Just part of the job.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

For a moment I thought we worked at the same place except in my place(s) of employment (Regional float pool) you, the nurse, are expected to enter all your orders while managing a heavy team. No questions about it. It is plain ridiculous. It is the same for both day and night shift. Secretaries are a thing of the past for this lg. healthcare corp.

Also, most nurses do not complain at all. They recited "It's the economy" over and over until one day slowly but surely they did away with secretaries. They are starting with CNA's too. It has become the norm. I rarely see anyone take 5 mins to scarf down food because there are always orders to be entered and stuff to do such as cleaning a room for a new admit (no kidding).

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This is an idea that I feel is very unsound in nursing, and that is to place a nurse in the role of secretary for the day. Because our hospital has frozen hiring now, and because we can't keep a secretary to save our lives, now we as nurses are starting to be assigned as secretaries for the shift.

I feel this is just outright stupidity and a human resource management issue. You take a degreed person w/ nursing skills and make them work in an administrative role? Why? I mean -- you're basically paying a person almost $30 per hour to enter orders.

In this job market, there would be plenty of folks who would be willing to do the job temporarily, or as part of a pool, perhaps w/o benefits, or part time, or whatever. I don't get it. Isn't this a waste of money/human resources?

And then we have nurses on the flloor who can do it, and are very good at it -- and management loves them. Meanwhile, I can't do the job, because I feel it's sort of complicated. I mean -- you've got to know what your'e doing, especially on day shift -- so now I feel inadquate that I can't do the job! If I ask for a training day, they look at me like I'm nuts -- oh, you just jump in and do it -- and get trained on the way.

But I still feel it's an improper use of clinical personnel.

You do understand that the work you're downplaying as "administrative" (which is erroneous, by the way, as it is supportive and not administrative in any respect) is what we were taught to do in nursing school, don't you? Accurate order transcription and maintaining complete documentation was stressed from Day 1, and in the days before unit clerks and unit secretaries, nurses did it and patient care too. And since maintaining charts and orders is also part of patient care, it's not out of line to expect us to be able to do it.

Further, during my time as an RN I've worked more often without secretaries and clerks than with them. They would be hired for busy shift, then cut back or phased out secondary to budget concerns. They didn't work off shifts, and they didn't work weekends. That left it for us, and until the severe cuts in nursing staff numbers came it wasn't really a huge issue to have to do our own paperwork, write our own MARS, do our own computer data entry, etc.

From your post, I gather that you're concerned about this perceived misassignment of clinical personnel because you are personally uncomfortable about taking the "secretarial" role. You have little basis for complaint. You've already had more training than unit secretaries and clerks get, so you can't claim that as a reason to not take on the responsibility. You just have to get over yourself and jump into it, perception be damned. You'll learn it, quickly. It's in your interest to do so because in case you hadn't noticed, the more adaptability you have on the job, the more likely it is that you'll keep it.

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Specializes in ICU/CCU.

I wouldn't mind serving as a secretary once in a while. We don't have secretaries at night, so we do all that stuff ourselves anyway, especially the one of us who is acting as charge. It would be cool to do it and not have to take care of patients at the same time! As long as I get my same pay and patient safety isn't compromised, I don't care what my employer assigns me to do. Last week I spent two nights working as a sitter for confused patients. I literally sat in a room and watched an old person sleep for eight hours. Every once in a while I would have to push one of her legs back in the bed. With my night differential they wound up paying me close to $60/hr (Bay Area wages) to do that insanely easy job. Our house supervisor claimed that it was still cheaper than paying a nurses aid overtime! I am not about to complain, especially since so many people in this country are out of work right now, including nurses.

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