Playing Cards

Hoosier_RN, MSN · Apr 20, 2019

I'm in IN workin the black jack table...

UrbanHealthRN, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2019

9 hours ago, Wuzzie said:
I think every nurse who’s offended about this should send her a deck of cards.

But I need those for my shift tomorrow night!

pbrower534, LPN · Apr 20, 2019

The Senator from Washington must need a proctologist, since she has her head up her ***.

Spent 37 years working in the ER and was lucky to get a bathroom break some days. My "retirement job" was for the past 12 years working for the VA. Although the pace was definitely not as hectic as the ER, but there were many days I was lucky to get lunch. I have retired in January 31st and now can finally play cards.

GannonNurse1993 · Apr 20, 2019

I am personally offended by the audacity of the woman thinking that any of us play cards!!! Doesn't she know we prefer board games?

TriciaJ, RN · Apr 20, 2019

44 minutes ago, pbrower534 said:
The Senator from Washington must need a proctologist, since she has her head up her ***.
Spent 37 years working in the ER and was lucky to get a bathroom break some days. My "retirement job" was for the past 12 years working for the VA. Although the pace was definitely not as hectic as the ER, but there were many days I was lucky to get lunch. I have retired in January 31st and now can finally play cards.

And eat lunch.

SandraCVRN · Apr 20, 2019

21 hours ago, chare said:
Apparently this comment was made during discussion of
SHB 1155, in the Washington state Senate. SHB 1155 addresses meal and rest breaks as well as mandatory overtime. The comment regarding playing cards was made by Ms. Walsh, specifically referring to nurses at critical access hospitals, where she stated there might only be 6 patients in the entire facility.
Ms. Walsh's comments begin at 9:10 of the video.
There is another thread discussing this: Mandatory Break Bill.

Yes there may only be 6 patients but there are probably only 2 nurses in the facility. If something goes to the toilet they are on their own. I’m glad you noticed it’s critical access not critical care but still you need skills. She was talking about mandatory OT and breaks. In Illinois there are 25 beds max. At my little hospital that included 2 OR beds, 2 icu beds and about 18 regular beds. We stayed maxed out most of the time taking care of fresh post-op patients as well as folks with other medical issues such as pneumonia.

TJ RNDNP · Apr 21, 2019

Madam Senator: You have no understanding of the demands that are placed on a nurse. Your comment alone gives that away. First of all, for many decades I worked as a bedside nurse, ICU specialty RN, Charge Nurse and provided education for nurses as a mentor and orientation provider. My specialty was ICU. I started in 1982 and went through all the changes that took place. You have no idea the caring, compassion and dedication needed to work like we do. Many have had no meal breaks, or 15 minute breaks and not even being able to leave your patient to have a restroom break. You do not know of what you speak. Many of us worked mandatory overtime do to staffing issues and have given our lives to a profession that is all about healing and empathy. You have offended an entire profession. Good luck ever getting any respect for one of us anywhere ever!!!!! How dare you. We spend entire shifts on our feet trying to give our best for our patients. We educate ourselves, using our own financial means, and fulfill mandatory education for licensure. Do you??????? We are the first line advocates for our patients. We are first line to evaluate and report a life threatening problem and respond to an emergent cardiac arrest. We are there to support the patients through the worst times of their lives. We support the families during the worst parts of their lives, possible losing their cherished loved one. I suggest you, yourself, take a good look at your life commitment and then walk a mile in our shoes. My opinion is you could not! You have no training in staffing procedure or patient acuity and the multiple needs of critically ill patients. You have no comprehension of the necessary education and experience needed to be a high-level critical care nurse or even a specialized general care nurse. Now that you have degraded one of the most caring, compassionate and empathetic professions ever, I suggest you take a very close look at what you have done. Maybe you will think twice about taking on the most marvelous professions one can dedicate themselves to. Good luck ever getting any support or trust from any nurse anywhere again.

CelticGoddess, BSN, RN · Apr 21, 2019

4 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:
I'm in IN workin the black jack table...

what about Euchre? I grew up in IN and we played a lot of euchre. I love euchre. NO one around here can play it. I guess I need to teach my fellow nurses the game.

NightNerd, MSN, RN · Apr 21, 2019

Senator Saldaña gets it! She presents her comments maybe four minutes after Ms. Walsh, and she calls out the ENTIRE Senate on their own lunch breaks! There was some sense in the room after all!

This whole thing with the cards is bad enough, but to criticize nurses for criticizing a proposal that requires five days of work per week instead of three is ridiculous. Everyone is different, it might help to offer eight hour shifts too, but I know I would never be able to muster the strength to go into my hospital job five days a week. The physical and emotional fatigue is real. A 30-minute break in 12 hours isn't a lot, BUT it allows nurses the mental space to eat, use the bathroom, and not worry over their patients while they're doing so. That small thing is crucial to our alertness and therefore to patient care. I forget who said it on one of these threads, but hospitals are always telling nurses to "figure it out, make it work," when it comes to staffing. The hospitals will need to figure this one out.

I'm kind of glad this whole issue is emerging now. I've always kind of wanted to move to Washington, but maybe I'll pass if this is how it's gonna be. Nooooo thank you.

Capp · Apr 21, 2019

"Well, if we have an issue with nurses getting tired, let's quit letting them do 12-hour shifts, let's let them do 8-hour shifts. Like most standard shifts are," Walsh said on Tuesday. "Twelve hours, I know they want it, but then they come back and they start talking out of both sides of the mouth and telling us how tired they are."

This is the part that is most interesting to me rather than the card playing part. It seems to show pretty plainly that she introduced the 12 hour shift ban out of spite.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Apr 21, 2019

And to think Sen. Walsh explained it all by saying she was "tired" and said something she shouldn't have. She stopped well short of making an apology, which is what she SHOULD have done. But she is so obtuse about what nurses actually do that I doubt she will, even though she has managed to piss off three million of us and a bunch of people who care about us. I hope she never lives it down.

TriciaJ, RN · Apr 21, 2019

On 4/19/2019 at 4:09 PM, Nurse Beth said:
Any WA nurses out there who can explain Senator Maureen Walsh's diatribe about nurses in critical care access hospitals "playing cards a considerable amount of time?"
What was that about? https://www.wsna.org/news/2019/senator-states-that-nurses-probably-play-cards-for-a-considerable-amount-of-the-day-in-amending-rest-breaks-bill
If any WA nurses are playing cards on duty, please shape up. It makes us all look bad.
(that's a joke, btw).

I watched another ten minutes past the card-playing remark. It really was infuriating. Senator Walsh is a raving *****. Then they shot down 12 hour shifts in an extremely paternalistic way. Most of their arguments missed the point completely.