OK Managment you win. Nurses are leaving on time now.

egglady, LPN · Dec 13, 2012

Usually in LTC, we dont refer to the people as "patients" but as "residents". Nursing isn't all about charting, it is about people taking care of people. Just my view of it!!

FLArn · Dec 13, 2012

All I have to say is that I may lose my job for excessive OT but I may lose my home, car, license if there is ever a question about the care provided a resident if I have no documentation to support my claim that I indeed provided the care. If I don't chart it, I didn't do it.

'Nuff said.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Dec 13, 2012

I would keep charting and if you have to rack up the overtime to do so, then so be it. Call their bluff. At my last job, I had to get an hour of overtime every night to finish charting. Each time I got some stupid little yellow "write up" paper. This went on for over a year. I literally "wallpapered" a large chunk of my basement den with those stupid pieces of paper. Cause that's all they were.... pieces of paper. But not charting the care you give can come back to haunt you, legally....

Blackcat99 · Dec 13, 2012

Thanks to all for your comments. It is unbelievable here. One of the nurse's said that the supervisor followed him outside to his car to make sure he was really leaving after his shift was over!!!!!! He said he drove off that day and came back later after he was sure she was gone for the day so he could finish his charting. I am one of the few who is still charting and I am sure I will be getting some write-ups very soon. I don't care. It is so true about the "If you didn't chart it you didn't do it."

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Dec 13, 2012

Yikes. What a place.

Blackcat99 · Dec 14, 2012

I would keep charting and if you have to rack up the overtime to do so, then so be it. Call their bluff. At my last job, I had to get an hour of overtime every night to finish charting. Each time I got some stupid little yellow "write up" paper. This went on for over a year. I literally "wallpapered" a large chunk of my basement den with those stupid pieces of paper. Cause that's all they were.... pieces of paper. But not charting the care you give can come back to haunt you, legally....

Thanks BrandonLPN for advising us to call their bluff. So they wrote you up for over a year but still did not fire you. That's a relief. I am glad to hear that you found a good project where you could actually use all of those yellow write up sheets.

idobelieve · Dec 16, 2012

You are correct egglady that nursing is not all about charting but when your facility has their state survey then charting is just as important.

egglady, LPN · Dec 17, 2012

I totally agree, idobelieve, what I was getting at is that management needs to realize that nursing is about people not the damn charting!!! Just went thru our survey and yup, it is all about paperwork. I find that sad...

cienurse · Dec 18, 2012

You all need to realize that we in management DO understand what nursing is about-we've all been where you are, how do you think we got these jobs?! It's just as frustrating for us to have to enforce the company policies by staying within budget for staffing, supplies, food, utility bills, etc. just like you do at your own home. Nursing has 3 shifts and the object is to do what you can, including charting, and then pass on to the next shift. I know everyone gets caught up in "I don't want to leave ANYTHING for the next shift to do" but that's the old way of thinking from the days when companies didn't worry so much about overtime and going over budget. In this economy, every penny counts, even in the long term care business. Consider all the cuts from Medicare and Medicaid-companies are being asked to provide more services with less reimbursement. So how do you suppose the company should make up for the loss? They make up for it by asking people to punch in and out on time, to use supplies economically, and to use "teamwork" to provide care to the residents. So instead of blaming management, try thinking outside the box as the whys and what fors. We're not sending you off duty on time just to be mean or to see you fail at your job. There's a bigger picture to be seen if you would only step back and take a look at it.

Blackcat99 · Dec 18, 2012

I think all of the shifts are "very busy". A few times I have reported that I didn't get such and such done and could someone help me out. They will usually say "OK I will try to get it done." I return the next day and ALWAYS the task has still not been done.I am not criticizing the other shifts. I am sure that they had other stuff that they had to do too. My biggest problem is getting all of my "required charting" done. I really can't ask the next shift to do "my charting." They did not work that shift, I did. I don't know the solutions to these many problems.

monkeybug · Dec 18, 2012

You all need to realize that we in management DO understand what nursing is about-we've all been where you are, how do you think we got these jobs?! It's just as frustrating for us to have to enforce the company policies by staying within budget for staffing, supplies, food, utility bills, etc. just like you do at your own home. Nursing has 3 shifts and the object is to do what you can, including charting, and then pass on to the next shift. I know everyone gets caught up in "I don't want to leave ANYTHING for the next shift to do" but that's the old way of thinking from the days when companies didn't worry so much about overtime and going over budget. In this economy, every penny counts, even in the long term care business. Consider all the cuts from Medicare and Medicaid-companies are being asked to provide more services with less reimbursement. So how do you suppose the company should make up for the loss? They make up for it by asking people to punch in and out on time, to use supplies economically, and to use "teamwork" to provide care to the residents. So instead of blaming management, try thinking outside the box as the whys and what fors. We're not sending you off duty on time just to be mean or to see you fail at your job. There's a bigger picture to be seen if you would only step back and take a look at it.

Too many of us see money being spent on things that have nothing to do with patient care, I doubt many readers are going to see your post and think, "I'm wrong, management is right, and why didn't I think of that?" The same month we were told that there was a hiring freeze and a halt to any pay increases, the local magazine published an article about our CEO's lovely, elegant beach house. As for having been where we are, then why do managers all act like they sign the paperwork in HR and then head off to the neuro unit for a quick lobotomy after they get hired? Nursing is a 24 hour job, but the OP is not talking about night shift nurses staying over to do AM care to ride the clock. I've never known a manager that cared as much about my license as I do, so I will do what is required of me, legally and ethically.