luvinursing

dang, girl, where do YOU work?! i want to work THERE! we run at dangerous levels quite often, just us two or three rns, no assistants, no secretary half the time, with not the least concern from mgt or director, nor comment to our complaints other than ''yeah, it's rough'' or ''lucky to have a job''. because we care, are damn good and have pulled it off, and not killed a patient yet, hey, works for them.

anyone have michigan info

ok, 3 RN days, 3 RN pm, with tech 11-11. hmm, change that to 2 RN days, 2 RN nites, and 2 11-11 rns--so NO techs at all, 2 rns on til 11am, then TWO more come on until 11p. See, it seems like they have it too easy, until they DON'T! that's fine, so long as when spit hits the fan at 9am YOU take the floor and HELP. Killing patients to save a buck is NOT cost productive.

minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratios: a hospital would be required during each shift, except during a declared emergency, to assign a direct care registered nurse to no more than the following number of patients in designated units: 1 patient in an operating room and trauma emergency operating room and trauma emergency unit 2 patients in all critical care units, intensive care, labor and delivery and postanesthesia units 3 patients in antepartum, emergency, pediatrics, step-down and telemetry units we already have this type of staffing, and the problem with this is, two patients in our ccu/icu can be ok, but more often than not, it's not. we have no ancillary staff-none. it is total rn care, and with obese patients quite often, they are pushing us beyond our limits physically. two rns on, even with three patients total between them, with two average wt and one 600pounder--it's ridiculous. flash up two floors to the stepdown unit--they take 3-4 with a tech and a pca to assist! the difference in aquity between the floors is staggering, and we are the ones with no assistance provided. i can't imagine the anomosity locking them in at 3 will do to our unit. our patients, on occasion, actually require two rns running full throttle to keep them alive and we are the most horridly treated of all. all the doctors respect us, our knowledge, our care, and comment often how most of the patients would probably not made it somewhere else---and the hospital treats us like garbage. why is that?

you need to REPORT your hospital! NO WAY would I be the only nurse, let alone in a mental facility. Trust me, the money is just going somewhere else while you help them cut corners. If YOU were the one injured, do you think anything would change? I'll tell you--NO! They do not care about you, just their checks.

You need to notify the director, annonously if you like, but that way, you give her the opportunity to address the situation. No action taken? Contact OSHA, and the trauma certification agencies---there ARE staffing requirements to be maintained. They've done it to my unit before, and a coworker said mgt will back you if anything happens. WHAT? Who the heck wants anything to happen to a patient, let alone staff! Working these units is tough, and risky at times, depending on the patients, etc. You should be one of the most valued staff members to the hospital, and it should be made OBVIOUS by them, because if none of you showed up for work tomorrow--WHO would do your job? The med-surg nurses? No. The ob nurses? No. The step-downs? Mmm, they might be able to, depending on acutity and knowledge, but for SOME reason, it seems to be more common that the more irreplaceable the nurses, the LESS they are valued and taken for granted. Pulling nursing staff period, is not a good idea. It decreases morale, increases stress, and mistakes happen from being displaced and unfamiliar. Pulling SPECIALIZED NURSING STAFF, even to cover similar units is a no-no that WILL cost them dearly one day down the road when lack of staff (and state violations) causes injury or death-and all that money they saved screwing the nursing staff over, is LOST in settlement and lawsuits!! Don't stand for it.