alkat

Our hospital has a committee of nurses who decide how to celebrate nurses week. We were given frisbees, pens, mugs, note pads on one day, but if you were scheduled off for the day, too bad, all the extras were given to secretarys, social workers, dietary, etc. I was scheduled off and was told that they had ran out. There were massages by massage students one day if you worked day shift and was able to leave the floor and stand in line for 20-30 min. waiting for the 5 min. massage (hand or face). Avon and Mary Kay were there pushing their wares to day shift also. Punch and cookies were handed out floor to floor one day. Night shift had cookies and punch left for them. Our units management handed out sports bottles. They had $275 to spend on 55 nurses (or so I was told). There was also the awards day presentations where popcorn, but no drink, was served. I asked to take extras back to some of my co-workers who couldn't attend and was told just to take two, so on the floor 7 of us split two bags of popcorn! Nurses week generally just reminds me that nurses continue to be taken for granted and underappreciated, but I don't know the solution.

How does your facility ensure patient coverage when you have an employee or employees call in within a couple of hours or less of their scheduled time for work?

What suggestions do you have to help cover shifts where employees have called in leaving the floor short-staffed?

Our hospital is also requiring the nurses to use scripting. Our script also requires us to say "Is there anything I can do for you, I have the time", along with the standard introduction. We were even told that members of management would randomly pick patients to talk to so they could see if we were using the scripting. It feels like an insult to me. It seems to me administration has no respect for nurses in general. We are required to say this even when working short staffed, but we are not allowed to let a patient know we are working short. I feel like the people pushing the scripting are really clueless about the true nurse/patient relationship and the actual daily duties of the nurses.

How many days s/p hip surgery can you use these drugs? If they are three or four days post-op. can you use them?