susiern06

Today I had a doctor (oncologist) ask me what happened to his patient, so I explained how he had PEA in the OR. Then he said, "Yeah, I saw that in the chart. What's a PEA?" Kind of stunned I replied "Pulseless Electrical Activity. He coded." He laughed at himself and said it was time to go back to school. I'm still stunned. And a little scared.

We give report for all our patients outside of the rooms, then go in together to introduce ourselves, say hello/goodbye, check IV's, fluids, etc. Our whole report process takes about 20 minutes, longer if complicated.

We are a 43 bed Telemetry Unit in NY. Our nurse to patient ratio is 1:6. We have worked as 1:7 and even 1:8 if there are sick calls or if one of us floats, but always with a protest of assignment. We always have a tech on monitors. They watch our floor plus a few more monitored beds elsewhere in the hospital. We have 2 techs at the monitors the majority of the time, and can do with one if staffing is an issue. The thing in my hospital is they don't classify us a critical care unit. Something happened during a strike a long time ago and the classification changed from critical to med-surg and it was never changed back. Yet we all maintain BLS, ACLS, and our mandated Stroke CE's to be able to work our floor. And we are floated to CCU and ER if need be. Our CCU/ICU watches their own monitors, but their ratio is only 1:2/1:3 max!

I agree with Running with Scissors. I just graduated in this past May and this subject came up when I was in school. We were told that it is our choice on whether or not we wanted to stop and assist with aid, but we had to realize that because we are licensed as nurses, we would be held to a higher standard than an ordinary person who came to help. The Good Samaritan Laws may not be enough to cover us as professionals. And of course, we also always have to be mindful about what our scope of practice is. I had instructors say that they might not stop because of the "sue-happy" society that we live in today or they would stop, but may not identify themselves a a nurse. Me, I would definately call 911 first and foremost. After that, I would really have to assess the situation at hand to see if I would be able to help. (I am new and still gaining experience and have no trauma experience whatsoever).

How funny is it that just as I was reading this thread, I got a call asking me to come in tommorrow! I usually will come in (if I can arrange child care and have no other plans) even if I don't need the extra money, but there are times when I just can't...I have a life outside of the hospital. The guilt is still felt when I say no because I know what it is like on the floor when there are not enough nurses. Just a few weeks ago I got mandated to stay for 4 hours because the night shift was short. Me having to stay only solved their dilemma for a few hours, and I don't think they ever got anyone to cover the remainder of the shift anyway. If you can physically do it and want to, go ahead. If you can't, just say no and they will have to understand.

I work on a 44 bed tele unit, and as fast as we discharge people the beds fill up again quickly. They just posted an Admission Nurse position for my floor to help us out. In the meantime, management may ask us if we'd like some extra hours to come in and do admissions for our floor. I can honestly say, what a help! And if the admissions slow down, they usually go around and see if anyone needs any help. I'm unsure if my hospital utilizes them in other areas also, but I think it is a great concept.