michiganurse

REPORT THAT STAFFING TO OSHA AND CEMS. THAT IS COMPLETELY UNSAFE BS--aides or no aides--well tell the frikin DON to come do some baths and pass meds! If baths can't be done and family complains, give them the DONs number, and tell them SHE made it not priority

Another example of hospitals trying to save a buck, and IT WILL COME BACK AND COST THEM PLENTY. They never learn. As far as nurses not answering lights? AMEN. Where I work, we have NO AIDES--no one but us nurses (all RN staff) and we get our lights--some faster than others, but even THIS IS UNSAFE, b/c, as i said, no aides--they short us secretaries, phones ring off the hook, we do our baths, feeds, cover the sitter for 1:1 sit so they can go to lunch, even tho we don't get one half the time, telem alarms sound, vents, pumps--we HUSTLE. on the rare occasion they loan us a nurse from another floor, they SIT ON THEIR AX next to the call box showing THEIR light is on, and they continue to sit, and sit--until we say GO GET YOUR LIGHT PLEASE--b/c they're USED TO SITTING AND HAVING THE AIDES GET THE LIGHTS. well usually the aides have plenty more to do. one sat and listened to her vent alarm (not on my floor) like what would the aide do for this? the patient bradied down and coded b/c he had popped off his trach. so nurses, aides or NO aides, get off your butts. and yeah, i'd say something to the manager--more than likely this has been going on longer than you have been there, and the nurses are probably burned out on it--i'd mention to the manager how this is going to cost WAYYY more in an injury or death lawsuit somewhere down the line, and KNOWING you're staffing the unit that way, that just might be criminal conduct. and yeah, that manager just might have her hands tied, unable to hire any more staff, and the ones she has calling in prob due also to burn out! this is why sometimes you have to teach the jerks who hold the purse strings a lesson and report the hospital to cems and osha for unsafe staffing. write your legislators to PASS the nursing staffing bill!

a doctor's order. and it can be on a patient that is fairly heavy, or never be written on a patient 10x as heavy as the rest. my unit is inconsistant and lacking common sense. they put patients in jeopardy without batting an eye-one or two nurses running their tails off while another 1 or two sit at the desk reading 3" thick novels--NOT kidding you. we will have patients that definately need to be 1:1s, and they will ''try to pair it up with something 'easy' (in critical care) so you don't get an ER or code'' yeah, well that's the whole point of a 1:1 isn't it, so you can care for the patient and NOT get an ER or code, OR NEGLECT the OTHER PATIENT. the majority of staff never question anything, just continue trunk to tail--those that DO question and try to make progress? *******.