cna1234

All cnas take turns acting as a PSA and floating to other units to do so. A list is kept of the dates everyone “sits” so whoever’s turn it is next, will be the one to act as the PSA. That way it is kept fair and no one is doing it more than others.

The sitter is a CNA who works on the unit that the patient was admitted as an inpatient to. The CNA was pulled from the floor and was assigned to be a PSA to that patient.

This was something we were concerned about as well. Not that we expect things at work or in nursing in general to be fair, but requiring a staff member to be exposed to cigarette smoke seemed to be a bit much. I’m glad that your policy was changed. I am hoping we can have something similar happen at our facility.

That was my thinking as well. The sitter would just have to watch it happen. Them being there is in no way going to prevent anything. And since they’re all the way out in the parking lot, the sitter would have to leave the patient alone just to run in and get help.

The doctor was contacted multiple times throughout the shift to see if the order for a PSA could be d/c but doctor insisted. And unfortunately, because the sitter was ordered, they had no choice but to follow hospital PSA protocol and keep the patient in direct view at all times. I’m glad y’all find this situation as ridiculous as i did.

The best part was, the unit was understaffed at the time. There was no unit clerk and all the nurses and cnas were maxed out with more admits coming.

Literally just to make sure they didn’t have a stroke in the parking lot while they were smoking. No other reason. Patient was alert, oriented, entirely independent. Didn’t need or want a wheelchair ride down to the parking lot. The sitter sat in the hallway most of the day, staring at the wall, while the patient was sleeping, just waiting for them to wake up with the desire to go out for a smoke.

The doctor actually wrote an order that the patient could leave the unit to smoke if pressures were below certain parameters. The hospital does have a sitter policy, for patients who are at risk for harming themselves or others, or who are interrupting their care such as pulling on lines.

I agree. So it was very strange to me that a CNA was forced to sit outside the patient’s room all day and escort the patient down for smoke breaks. Seemed like abuse of the sitter system to me, i was just curious if this is standard practice at other hospitals. I have never heard of this being done before at my hospital.

Patient refused a nicotine patch. Patients are allowed to come and go off the unit as they please. If a patient wants to smoke, they’re allowed to go out on their own. *edit to add: generally, if one of our patients wants to go out to smoke and requires a wheelchair, they must have a visitor take them out. Staff is never required and normally not allowed to take patients to smoke.

Hi all. Just curious about opinions on this topic. A patient safety attendant being assigned to sit with a patient for the sole purpose of escorting them off the unit whenever they please to smoke in the parking lot. This patient has high blood pressure and is receiving IV medication to treat it, but pressures remain very high. The sitter is to walk with the patient, make sure they smoke safely, escort them back to the unit, and sit in the hallway outside their room until the next time they would like to go smoke. Curious on what people think about a sitter being used for this purpose!