karoline

My hospital is opening a new 8 bed unit that will be called the "Clinical Decision Unit". Don't know why that title is being used. Anyways, patients will be admitted to this unit directly from the ER. This unit will be for patients that need very short term care and have an anticipated discharge of 24 hours or less. These extra beds have been open for some time and called the "additional care unit", providing badly needed beds during times of high census. Now will be a permanent unit with own staff. I did float to this unit a couple times and enjoyed the work. The patients were of low acuity and most admitted under observation status. Was wondering if anyone here has any experience working in such a unit? I did apply for a permanent position and have an interview in 10 days or so. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

My hospital is opening a new 8 bed unit that will be called the "Clinical Decision Unit". Don't know why that title is being used. Anyways, patients will be admitted to this unit directly from the ER. This unit will be for patients that need very short term care and have an anticipated discharge of 24 hours or less. These extra beds have been open for some time and called the "additional care unit", providing badly needed beds during times of high census. Now will be a permanent unit with own staff. I did float to this unit a couple times and enjoyed the work. The patients were of low acuity and most admitted under observation status. Was wondering if anyone here has any experience working in such a unit? I did apply for a permanent position and have an interview in 10 days or so. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

I have worked night shift at various times in my career and have been upset with coworkers who sleep at the desk at night. I feel what anyone does on their 30 minute break away from the immediate work area is their business. However, the great majority of facilities pay a differential to night shift employees for the inconvenience of working during the night. Night nurses are paid to work at night. Day and evening shifts cannot fall asleep at the desk or really anywhere else. Everyone is expected to be alert and available. Why is night shift any different? As a patient I would feel very unsafe if I observed the nurses sleeping and find it detrimental to the image of nurses as professionals. I understand that not everyone is cut out to work nights and acclimating to a night schedule is difficult. Many night nurses I have known don't make getting sleep during the day a priority and therefore have difficulty staying awake during the night. My feeling is that if one cannot commit to staying awake, alert and available then they should work a different shift.

Over the holidays one wing of a med-surg tele floor was closed due to not enough nursing staff - 18-20 beds. The nurses who worked there were relocated to other areas in the hospital. The ER does go on diversion - closed to ambulances - when beds are extremely tight. Usually the pediatric unit has open beds and they are required to take adult patients if beds are otherwise not available.

Wow - what a terrible situation. I don't know where you live but with the nursing shortage the way it is - at least here in northeast Ohio - I am appalled that anyplace treats their nurses this way. I don't think you were wrong to get out and I am certain there is someplace that will appreciate you for your dedication and skills. management never seems to learn the impact that downsizing nurses has on the morale of the staff and the affect on patient care. I worked at a major med center a few years ago that actually paid nurses to go off roll - voluntarily - and then after that laid a number of nurses off. Two months later they were hiring again - at the same time when some of the nurses were still getting severance pay. Look at this job as a learning experience and move on.

Podiatrist - Dr. Tozzi

Several years ago I worked pediatrics at a university hospital and many of the kids on my unit had a hematology/oncology related diagnosis or some other chronic disorder that required lengthy and repeated admissions. A few times I cared for kids whose parents and I didn't click and they asked for a different nurse. Happened to everyone at one time or another. Sometimes the parents would play one nurse against another to get what they wanted and really took advantage of the nurses. Parents of very sick children are incredibly stressed and often the nurses are the target of their anger and frustration. My first manager was good at not letting the parents have too much control and would tell parents that each nurse on the unit was equally qualified to care for their child. After this manager left the following manager was a different story. Often moms were making out the bed assignments (admissions) for the day and who would and wouldn't be their roommates. Parents were allowed to check the nuring schedule to see who could be their nurse. One time the infant daughter of one of the social workers was hospitalized (repeatedly, unfortunately with leukemia) and the mom would check the schedule and make a list of who would be her daughter's nurse for each shift for the length of time she was hospitalized. Needless to say this caused alot of resentment and hard feelings among the staff. Personally, I was very happy to not be on her "list." I left pediatrics eight years ago and do not miss these conflicts one bit. Have worked med/surg since then and have very rarely had this happen. Currently I work on a cardiac and cardiothoracic surgery floor. One night, not long after starting my current job, I cared for the husband of one of our secretaries. He didn't want me to be his nurse the next night because he felt I wasn't helpful enough. Actually the off going nurse led me to believe that he was much more independent than he was. He was readmitted several months later and I steered clear of him. When his wife came to visit she asked if I was his nurse. I told her that he didn't want me to be his nurse previously when he was a patient due to a misunderstanding. She was not aware of the situation and said "well I told him to ask for you because you are the best one." One thing I have learned is to not take anything personally and to let things go.