lauramae18

our facility is at UPMC Mercy.

Our facility changed our RN/pt ratios a few months ago. It's been painful. I usually have 8 pts @ night, and our floor has maybe 1 CNA. Rarely do we have 2; it's usually 1 but then she's pulled to sit or go to another floor. I work on a telemetry floor that has post op CABG's, and also post op CVT patients. Since I work 7p-7a, I almost always get admissions because the charge nurse is reluctant to give the first one to the floor to an 8 hr staffer. It's rough.

At our hospital we use a multipurpose machine (copier/scanner/fax/emailer) to send orders to pharmacy. You hit "TO" , type RX, and then press "SUBJECT" and type in the patient's last name. It's a small touch screen - 4 inches wide, 2 inches high, and very difficult to get the right button. Above the subject button is a "BCC". If you accidently hit that instead of subject, the order sheet goes to the closest email address that matches the patient name. It's a HIPAA violation and punishable by discipline and possibly termination. I'm all for HIPAA enforcement, but really. Not all of us have fingers the size of a 5 year old. They can't disable the BCC. We're not allowed to use the end of a pen. Ok, thanks for the vent. LOL.

I agree with fiesty. Most nights I feel like I don't have enough time to get all my work done at a bare minimum, let alone the way I like to do it. You know, make sure my patients receive some education, try to get them washed up in the am for the morning crew, spend a few minutes talking to the old lady with no family. I look up meds that I am unfamiliar with, read cardiology periodicals and do what I need to maintain my license, and all the other little things that fall under being a licensed professional. I don't think knowing that a patient needs an eye exam for a drug that I rarely see is going to be a smart use of my time. Of course, I will never forget that you need it now!

we asked for those because they are used at other facilities in our hospital system; but they are bent on all white.

I used to say "Psych" but so much of what I do on my cardiac step-down floor is psych, so I'll stick with the ICU because I can't take suctioning people. Snot and mucus make me hurl. True story.

that's funny. we've heard doctors say they are leaving but then find the grass ain't always greener. So nice to have you back, Dr!

I know. I guess I was just naive in thinking they would actually listen. And care. Ohh how I hate to be wrong.:chuckle

Thanks to all for your time and participation! Management had already decided we are moving to white even though we were supposed to be "discussing it". So, April 1 we are wearing white pants, white shirts, and we can wear a colored/printed warm up jacket. The color/print must have an open front, meaning it has snaps/zippers etc. We are responsible for our new uniforms but the hospital will provide a few on-site uniform sales with payroll deduction. Instead of working on the real solution of why patients can't identify who their nurse is - you know, because we have 8-10 patients, and spend most of our time charting and documenting on the computer vs doing patient care - we're going to put a bandaid on it. I'm wondering what we'll have to do next when our patient satisfaction scores aren't improved in this area. Again, thank you for your help and interest. I greatly appreciate your feedback.

I work there. I love my job but not always how I have to do it. I think that's going to be the same no matter where you go nowadays. You can pm me your questions if you'd like.

Our facility is looking to go to white uniforms for RN's because of uniform recognition. Research shows that when test members are shown pictures of people in scrubs, they almost always pick the person in white as the nurse. Currently, we have no restrictions as such; except our ICU's wear blue and OB/OR wears hospital issued. There is a group of us that do NOT WISH to wear all white. What color do you wear at your facility? I am looking for where you are from, what type of nursing you do, and what the rationale is for what color you wear. Location: Pittsburgh PA type of nursing: Progressive Cardiac Care Unit - post ops, step down, telemetry color of scrubs: maroon rationale: I wear maroon because that is our floor color :redpinkhe Thanks in advance for your help. I am attending a focus group committee and would like some data to take that helps our cause.

I don't want to derail this thread... but I have a few questions for you: What unit would you recommend new grads start on? How do nurses learn to be adequate to work on a telemetry floor? Does this also mean that new grads shouldn't work ICU's? I ask because I work on a telemetry floor and started there directly out of nursing school. I had an awesome preceptor and a great bunch of people to use as secondary resources... which I still do because someone will always have more experience and knowledge than I do. I don't think my manager has poor judgement in hiring new grads; she has a good eye for taking GN's who have potential and are good fits for our unit that turn into valued team members who are resources for the next new batch of nurses. I think every type of unit/ application within nursing has pros and cons for hiring/not hiring new nurses, but we all need to start somewhere.

This was a well written perspective! Thanks for your insight.

I am always the "slow" one and last one done at work because I do a very thorough assessment. I will admit, though, if it's a patient I've had for a few days and it's an easy patient - in with chest pain and now it's changed to lytes imbalance, for instance, my assessment is a much quicker re-assessment. I only work 7p-7a or nights and on nights that I start at 11, I go in the rooms as soon as I get to work to tell them that I'll be back to check them out, see them after report. And when I get a patient that complains " you are doing a lot"; "no one else did that" , etc.... - I tell them it's the law for a nurse to do an assessment and my family cannot afford for me to lose my livelihood. Keep doing what you are doing!

I work nights... and have only been late once this season due to the snow. However - I have noticed that around 8pm is usually when the snow teams seem to take a break. I guess they figure that the 9 to 5 'ers are all home safe, and they have a while to get ready for the am commuters. So, when I hit the road, it's usually in need of a redo!

voted!

I had a patient tell me she was allergic to: plastic- we had to tape her id band to her gown, even though she had on plastic eyeglasses and was doing that plastic cross-stitch people make Kleenex covers with skim milk - could only drink whole latex - the dr went in to her and told her she was tested and was not allergic, and she insisted that she was the dark - we had to leave all her lights on. i think this was just so she wouldn't have a roommate. She had a list of about 20 items but that's all I can remember.

Almost all my shopping is done on my way home from work in the am. I am by myself, it relaxes me, and then I am home and ready for shower and bed.

Now that UPMC bought Mercy, there is another avenue for you to pursue. I went to Mercy Hospital SON and loved it! Almost all your clinical is onsite except for pediatric experience at the Children's Institute and your community nursing. It was a great education. It is a state requirement that you have a C or better in Chemistry and Alebra. These can be high school. I took all my non-nursing classes at CCAC while I waited for classes to begin, since Mercy does only do enrollment August 1. I took And P 1 and 2, Micro, Sociology, Psych and Human Growth/Development, and Nutrition all at CCAC /Boyce. I saved a significant amount of money this way and it was a good way to do it if you still need to work or have a family because even though it stretches it out an extra 6 months or so, it makes it more managable. I myself would not have been able to take my nursing classes, non nursing classes, work and raise a family all at the same time. good luck to you! You've made a wonderful decision to be a nurse.

very poignant and well written. Kudos to you for putting into words what so many of us think but are unable to articulate without pure anger.

I'd like to say just a great big DITTO and have a great day!:loveya:

:eek:things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm...... I'm friends with a couple of the instructors at Mercy. They've been told that the school is not in danger of closing and they will in fact, as mentioned above, be getting overflow from Shadyside. I guess we'll wait and see!

:yeah:just wanted to let you guys know that with the purchase of Mercy, UPMC now has another school of nursing to consider. UPMC Mercy School of Nursing is a diploma program that runs from August until May 2 years away... ie, August 2008 until May 2010. The school offers an excellent program with the benefit of almost all the clinical under one roof.

this is our floor! i usually have 1-2 post op hearts in my mix, and then we have a new surgical dr that does different types of esophagectomys that requested are floor. so 1 -2 of those, also. the workload can be stressful for me, but what is really stressful is our house policy of checking the lpn's charts after they do. if there are 6 of us on and 3 lpn's there's no sharing of this duty.

old analogs would be new digital phones don't. We don't permit cell phones on our floor - staff -or patients- old school nurses tell pts it messes with the monitors, but really, it's patient confidentiality. We had a pt sneak in a room and take a cell phone pic of Ben Rotheilsberger. You were certainly correct in how you handled this situation. Definitely needs reported to the CI.