bugalug_nurse

I love team nursing. I'm an EEN (I think that's an LPN overseas) and I really enjoy working with an RN throughout my shift. There are no 'set' jobs that we each have to do - we plan our shift and help each other out with whatever is needed. It also means that if a particular patient requires monitoring (ie for chest pain etc), or if a patient needs to be taken to surgery, the other patient's aren't without a nurse.

Hmm, I wonder if one of the customers actually had a heart attack or choked on their food, would they have to call the paramedics or would the 'nursing staff' be able to cope??? :chuckle

In my area nursing home RN's do get paid less than hospital based RN's (the same goes with EEN's). To further complicate things, it will also depend on whether the nursing home is privately owned or government funded as to the rate in pay.

My major gripe is the staff to patient ratios. I'm currently working medical wing in a private hospital with 35 beds in our ward. It is not unusual for our ward to be split into two - one RN and one EEN assigned to each half (and a PCA if you work the AM shift). That's at least 17 patients! The upside is that the nurses there all support each other cause we all know we're in it together. Needless to say, I'm looking around at other hospitals - one I know of has a ratio of 4 patients to 1 nurse......what a dream come true, lol!