What Nurses Really Want

allnurses Guide · Jul 16, 2015

Many states have this issue, and I'm frankly surprised the other poster hasn't seen it. My facility's policy is that on a tele floor, the ratio on days is 1:4, 1:6 on nights. Wanna know how often that policy is followed? Pretty much never because there isn't enough staff to pull it off.

Even if they follow their policy I wonder whether patients are monitored and cared for the same at night.

In my decades working nights we had less management RNs for back up, fewer housekeepers and other ancillary staff had us mopping, putting in orders, doing EKGs, and drawing blood, more sun-downer confusion, just as many admits and transfers, and patients were just as sick. It makes no sense to staff fewer nurses at night.

FloridaBeagle · Jul 20, 2015

Even if they follow their policy I wonder whether patients are monitored and cared for the same at night.
In my decades working nights we had less management RNs for back up, fewer housekeepers and other ancillary staff had us mopping, putting in orders, doing EKGs, and drawing blood, more sun-downer confusion, just as many admits and transfers, and patients were just as sick. It makes no sense to staff fewer nurses at night.

Agreed. I worked on a neuro unit at night that staffed fewer nurses, and I'd argue that we need MORE nurses on night shift instead of day shift because so many of them sundown and don't sleep, making them much harder to care for then they were for dayshift ("Oh, she's a sweet old lady!" is what I usually was told from the dayshift report for my worst patient of the night). And the worst is when these old, frail people with impossible veins rip out their IV and IV team has gone home at 17:00... how am I supposed to get their vanco in them???? All the night nurses are newbies (seniority gets you to dayshift) and newbies can't get a difficult stick... oh, I could go on and on...

I will never work night shift again for this reason (understaffing). Night shift is NOT easier, and we DON'T sit around all night while the patients sleep.

Wellrn2002 · Jul 22, 2015

So here it is. It is obvious that you can't staff for every scenario. This is why hospitals need a substantial pool of nurses for a float pool. Pay those nurses really well. Also, don't forget the staff dedicated to a particular area. Longevity should reap great rewards. Also, must I add that a 4.0 student does not a good nurse make. Hire your CNAs first if they become nurses.

Until the bean counters get a pair of eyes and a clue, nursing will be in disarray. The only other option is for the nurses in a locality to band together and bend the hospitals until they say uncle. The problem is that many hospitals would rather give travelers what the staff are asking for instead of keeping their own staff happy. I was once a traveler. Trust me, I cared for my patients, but the well being of the facility was of no consequence for me. I wasn't vested in any institution. Facilities keep the nurses at odds with each other to keep us non- unionized. Well, it is harder to unionize in the South. It is funny that hospitals are just like any business, but they haven't learned that investing in their most valuable asset, people, is what will affect the bottom line.

I fear if the hospital bean counters don't wake up, we will fall to a system much like Canada where stagnation is the norm because pay scales are based solely off of time in service and not performance or role. This creates stagnation. Invest more in people. That 6 million dollar MRI machine can wait. After all, we still have a 4 million dollar MRI that works just fine and is not at the end of its service life.

Natasha A., CNA, LVN · Mar 1, 2017

What Nurses really want? Humanity as a priority

Workitinurfava, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2017

Bathroom breaks