Anyone concerned about pt. care?

Nurses Safety

Published

I used to think that Nursing was such a dignified profession...The patients were our first concern....even if we had to fight with a doctor about something concerning a patient, they(meaning the hospital) would listen to us.

Now, I think of my job as being secretarial...I do paperwork and peek in on my patients. I know I'm not the only one...I know most of the hospitals are doing this, making the almighty dollar their concern, not the patients care...

I'm very concerned about this because I don't feel like the patients are getting good care, and one of these days I'll be that patient...Please tell me that I'm not the only one that feels this way:o The hospitals (companies) have slowly but surely taken away every thing that would help us with staffing up....remember catagories...at least that way they would staff for someone who was total care, or whose family was a handful. That way you knew what you were dealing with. We also don't give person to person report anymore, because you found out too much about the patients. Why do we let this go on people. We should have a 100,000 nurse march on Washington and make people listen to us. Would anyone else want to do that? We could do it on Nurses Day.

0 Votes
Specializes in Neuro Critical Care.

I agree with you, most of my job is paperwork and I am tired of it. Heaven forbid there is a patient on the floor who is doing well and doesn't require much care, they get neglected so we can deal with the problem patients. My pet peeve the last couple of weeks has been customer service. Seems like our floor always has a "PR issue" patient that takes up all our time. It doesn't matter what you do, you can't make these people happy and it drives me insane. This is a hospital, not a hotel.

Supposedly out floor is going to be better staffed and become more patient oriented in the next couple of months...I'm not holding my breath!

0 Votes

Oh yeah... Its the same for me... I work nights so you get minimal staff.. One RN for up to 13pts, and one aide for up to 23pts... The last couple of nights I have had 3pts out of 10 who ran me all night long.. The other 7 didn't need anything... Which is good, cause all I got to do was "peak" in on them a few times...

I think its horrible.. they wonder why patients are unhappy with care... When they don't give enough staff what do they expect.. I spend most of my night charting in like 3 different places.. Its crazy...

0 Votes
Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

I don't think you'll find a nurse here or anywhere who won't give you a resounding "YES! I feel the same as you !" :o

It seems the very HEART of nursing has been ripped out... the CONTACT with the patient.. the time to LISTEN and OBSERVE.. to read between the lines, so to speak... to hear what they aren't saying with their mouth, but with their body. This is what drew me to nursing... even considered going for LPN instead of RN merely for the sake of patient contact, until I saw that the LPNs were in the same boat... same amount of endless, redundant paperwork.

So very sad. I feel that time spent with the patient contributes to healing... the positive and encouraging words, the smiles, the touch... all of which there is so little time to offer anymore. Drive though nursing care is what it has come to. :angryfire

I'm glad I am where I am... at least I have a LITTLE more time with my patients as I see them 3 days a week and can establish a connection.

0 Votes

All the paperwork is done for one reason and one reason only...to cover their a$$e$ and assets. I don't think that writing something down more than once is necessary. How about you? I think our jobs, as far as charting goes, have gotten past redundancy and into excessive. :angryfire

0 Votes
Specializes in Nursing Education.

Here is that RESOUNDING yes from me! I can not agree with you more! As I was leaving work tonight, I realized that I spend more time on paperwork than I did on my patients :angryfire . It is really sad when the paperwork becomes the main focus of care. How about a 100,000,000 nurse March on Washington and lets organize and plan it for National Nurses Week in 2005. That way we have enough time to get it all together. Perhaps this is what our country needs .... nurses to rise in one HUGE voice to advocate for our patients :balloons: . GREAT idea! Love it.

0 Votes

Rah, Rah, Cheer, yahoo........I would love for ALL of us, as nurses to do something for ourselves, for our future, and for our patients.....Either go to Washington D.C. and march, or march to your own cities capitol on Nurses Day in 2005. I've wanted to get something going on this for a while, but I've met with nothing but, it's been tried before......SO WHAT!!!!!!!! Let's try again until someone listens.....

0 Votes
All the paperwork is done for one reason and one reason only...to cover their a$$e$ and assets. I don't think that writing something down more than once is necessary. How about you? I think our jobs, as far as charting goes, have gotten past redundancy and into excessive. :angryfire

Isn't all that paperwork mandated by government regulations? And if it isn't done, the hospital gets hit with large fines? I think we need to point the finger at over-regulation by the government.

This may be why I want the government to take a few steps back away from medicine. When the surveyors come by they go through the chart with a fine tooth comb. The hospitals don't institute any of that.

And let's not even start on Medicare regulations . . . :angryfire

0 Votes
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

You ain't kidding, steph........sounds like you've worked in long-term care too. Hospital paperwork is NOTHING compared with Medicare/Medicaid charting, and it's all government mandated........and if all those dead trees have ever produced better patient care, I have yet to discover any evidence of it. :angryfire

0 Votes
You ain't kidding, steph........sounds like you've worked in long-term care too. Hospital paperwork is NOTHING compared with Medicare/Medicaid charting, and it's all government mandated........and if all those dead trees have ever produced better patient care, I have yet to discover any evidence of it. :angryfire

Our hospital has a LTC and I have worked down there on occasion, especially when I first started because all RN's had to be oriented to LTC in case of staff shortages. I love the people, I hate the charting. And the poor CNA's . . . . ..

Now I realize that it used to be so bad and elderly people were mistreated at times but can we please find a middle ground?

steph

0 Votes

Oh Jeez...last night was a perfect example of this conversation. I had 8 patients...Ok, as long as nothing happens. However, last night something DID happen. Night shift has a skeleton crew, barely the minimum to keep the hospital going. I had 8 patients and was a part of the code team, so guess what code called, and I was in a code for almost 3 hours. My charge nurse was upset that I was gone for so long and the floor was short staffed because they had to carry my load (initial assessments and meds done) during the code. They needed a replacement, but on nights it just isn't there. So, I had to let things slide with my group and had to pass things on which I hate to do... Last night, was my third code this week with these kinds of ratios.

0 Votes

That is my one gripe about night shift... I don't know how they think that when Day shift has 5 nurses for 25 patients.. Nights can do fine with 2!!! If they are thinking everyone is sleeping, then they obviously haven't worked on the floor in a LONG time..

The other night I had 12 patients... Most Orthopedic but several medical, mainly COPD patients (which I hate to have)... Well of course one of my COPD pts think its time to go bad.. Pulse ox 74% with a 50% Venti mask on, refused her Bipap.. Spent most of my night in there, trying to keep her from going to ICU and being reintubated... Made it through the night, but thank gosh my other patients required very lil help with anything!!

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment