Avie

Nursing has gone too far in the direction of patients rights without giving equal weight to their responsibilities. I'm English and proud to work for the National Health Service, free at the point of use and giving equal treatment to all but I do think that the sense of entitlement this has led to is not helpful. It may well be different in insurance-driven healthcare services but in the UK clinical need is still paramount and this is, I think, as it should be. It does give rise to a good deal of rudeness and aggression from emergency patients made to wait whilst more serious emergencies are dealt with and I put up with this verbal abuse every day I work. I deal with it by calmly giving the facts and if the ranting and verbal abuse continues then calling 1) the doctor 2) The porters and if it becomes inevitable 3) the police. None of us should have to tolerate these behaviors.

I work on a Plastics and Reconstructive surgery ward where the shifts are normally 8 hours each excluding the night shift which is 11 hours. We average 37.5 hours weekly excluding any overtime. The ward is 34-bedded and divided into a male and female side, it's an old-fashioned open ward with only four side-rooms between the two sides which we usually reserve for MRSA-infected patients. Normally there will be two staff nurses and one HCA to each of the two sides giving a ratio of 10 patients to each staff nurse. One day I was allocated the usual 10 beds of the female side. The caseload included a TRAM-flap breast reconstruction who required hourly TPR, sats, urines and flap obs, an ear reconstruction on the same obs who required additional monitoring of a marcaine infusion and changing of surgical drains every 10-15 minutes, two bilateral breast reductions one of whom was bleeding into the drains rapidly and the other vomiting profusely and to top it all off we then got an emergency admission who had a gushing arterial bleed from a partially-severed hand. That shift was a nightmare and a half. The staff nurse of the male side of the ward was forced to abandon her own ten patients in order to help me with mine as we tried desperately to do all the obs and prep the emergency for theatre. At one point the SHO was doing the flap obs. Luckily all the patients survived but it was a close-run thing.

I belong to a trade Union (UNISON) and find it is generally useful to let an employer know about my membership as they generally have a healthy respect for a large and powerful union like that. Are there nursing trade unions in the US?

The NHS Trust I am employed by has recently decided to alter the times of the shifts for no good reason that I can see. Early shifts are now 07.00-14.30, Lates are 12.30-20.00 and Nights are 19.30-07.30 and these changes are causing all sorts of difficulties from childcare provision through to the timing of the drug rounds. I was wondering what shift times other people work and what the average cross-over time exists between one shift and the next. Any imformation would be useful as my union (UNISON) is looking into the issue.

I work on a Plastics and Reconstructive specialist surgery ward that sees a high proportion of patients with hand injuries as emergency cases. Last week a young man with a hand injury was admitted to the ward who was from Eastern Europe and who could not speak English very well. When I was doing the admission paperwork (all nine pages of it..zzzzzzzzz) I noticed that the doctor who had clerked the patient in had written "Beggar" under social history. As the young man had given an address and a GP name I thought this was odd and sent our trusty ward clerk to make inquiries. Turned out the bloke was a BAKER and the doctor had misheard him!

It is the name of Apple Computer's Head of software...YES I AM a geek :(

It is the name of Apple Computer's Head of software...YES I AM a geek :(

I'm sorry but you are misguided if you think your clothing restricts your personal rights...I'm long used to wearing a uniform. IT DOES NOT MATTER. It does not affect the job you are hired to do and of most importance your patients do not give a damn as long as you deliver GOOD care whwther you are wearing a clown suit or the Trust uniform that I wear.

I'm sorry but you are misguided if you think your clothing restricts your personal rights...I'm long used to wearing a uniform. IT DOES NOT MATTER. It does not affect the job you are hired to do and of most importance your patients do not give a damn as long as you deliver GOOD care whwther you are wearing a clown suit or the Trust uniform that I wear.

Does it REALLY matter what you wear? Here in England we wear whatever uniform the Trust you work for decrees. True the uniform is supplied free by the Trust but....who cares? striped dress or blue dress I'm delivering the same care...

Does it REALLY matter what you wear? Here in England we wear whatever uniform the Trust you work for decrees. True the uniform is supplied free by the Trust but....who cares? striped dress or blue dress I'm delivering the same care...

Good idea!