Mary Austin

Any opinion on this? New nurse from LTC facility joins ortho, has been there for about 6 months now...carries own patient load, has a total knee patient who had not been medicated for 10 hours, poor woman gets up to potty in the tail end of the shift , barely able to ambulate to BRP, almost falls due to pain....I check her last med for pain and find it was ten hours ago......what would you do?/how would you handle it? Tell the nurse to medicate her? Medicate the patient yourself? Share the info with the supervisor so the "problem" can be corrected? OK....same nurse provided care to another patient the previous day. I get the patient next evening and the adult child of the patient complains to me about the same nurse and how she never medicated her mother during her shift. Mother had a total hip. What would you do?/how would you handle it? BTW, this nurse never asks questions about providing care to ortho patients. Isn't part of ortho "selling" the patient on pain control so they have an easier rehab? Yes, some patients have less pain than others but total knees take the cake as far as pain goes and should be medicated to get optimal flexion and extension early on. Also every nurse on this unit is extremely helpful in answering questions about patient care, pain control, anything without making any nurse feel inferior. After 26 years of nursing experience I still ask questions of my co-workers.

I encountered these tracking devices for the first time when I was floated to a med surg unit that was newly remodeled. The floor manager made us post 24 hour sheets in each patient room which were divided into hours and shifts. The instructions to each employee was that we had to sign our name to the sheet each time we made patient contact or was in that room in any given hour. What the manager was really doing, unbeknownst to staff, was comparing the written time in the room with the tracking device's log from the previous day. She had these handed in each day for an entire week. I suppose she wanted to see how honest her staff was each day, eh? Perhaps she was looking at productivity or what patient got the mostest from the hostess. Hard to say. Most eveyone followed the directions without asking questions of why we needed to sign a sheet in the room when we made contact. The staff, for the most part were good little followers. I agree with Timothy's reply. He hit the nail on the head with all he had to say about these devices. Heck no they are not spending money for us to find each other....they are going to give us more work to do. Is it any wonder why the US of A will be near a million nurses short in the near future? I know I am most definitely looking for a way out of the hospital by going back to school. Oh yes, I did leave the "tracker" in a patient's room just for fun. The patient was sleeping...midnight shift. I love reading Timothy's posts. Putting a tracker on a speedy little remote car and weaving it in and out of patients' rooms really appeals to me. That is something I would do if I could!!!!!

Ah yes, this is Big Brother at his finest. Not only do they track you but they tell admin how productive you are, where you are at each moment and if you have given a patient enough contact. They monitor your breaks and where you are at all times. Wait until they base your pay on how much patient contact you have, how long you spend with patients, at what time you checked that patient, etc. This "tool" may sound great to some but most do not know the dangers that it poses. Sure it is great to find your co-worker and track anyone and everyone. What happens when your monetary raise depends upon how much patient contact and how productive you are. Will your charting times match your patient contact? Can this be used in court to determine where you were and with whom you were with? Should be interesting! Perhaps it will track amount of time nurse spends with patients and how the patient should be billed for the nurses time (in the future, of course). Many uses but invasive. This can only be good for the company more than for the employee. The only benefit I can see is that we can find a patient's nurse or your co-worker. Yes, we have these tracking devices too. Most of the nurses just love them and think they are "cool". I do not think they are cool at all. Wait until they microchip you and see if you wash your hands each time! Yes, this device is in existence already. It can track you in the bathroom to see if you wash your paws before exiting that bathroom door! Of course we all wash our hands after potty! Big Brother is here....get ready for more of these "cool tracking tools" in the near future. Peace, Mary

There are none.....hospitals are all the same in Western WA.....bottom line is PROFIT to any hospital and to get the most work out of a nurse and staff in the cheapest way possible. This means you work hard, burn out and move on. I have been doing med/surg for 18 years at area hospitals in Western WA. All are the same. New grads burn out in two to four years now. Most are moving on and without regret. They are burning out. Management does not care either. There will be another nurse along shortly to fill the spot. The bottom line is to have any body in a position and the paperwork filled out so as not to upset JCAHO during review. Hospitals will only take notice when other hospitals snatch their business away and cannot figure out why. Nurses spend 24 hours with patients. Doctors are done when the incision is closed. They stop by each day trying to figure out when the patient can vacate the bed. Hospitals are a business and all are the same no matter where you go!

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Ah yes, the million dollar question that employers will find the answer to later when there are not enough of us to do the work on the floors. It will be then and only then they might start to listen (maybe) A Nurse spends 8-12 hours per shift attending to patients When you have co-workers who sleep on the job, take extra long breaks, and then do not cover your lights when you go on break then who does the patient direct their anger towards? and how do you explain that you needed a break and another nurse was suppose to answer your call lights for you? Patients are self-focused and they care about getting the help they need now. Patients do not understand that you are one person caring for six or seven patients by yourself. They do not realize that you may walk three to six miles per shift. Many older patients see the nurse as their handmaiden and she/he is there to follow the doctors orders. The general population has a very interesting view of nurses and it has not changed for the most part. I interviewed people who were not tied to the medical profession (the average patient) and they would tell me that nurses follow doctor's orders and that the doctor is the boss! I see and hear how patients praise doctors up and down for their work when they come into see the patient. I have been a nurse 27 years on Med Surg units in various hospitals and nothing has changed in the general public's mind on what nurses do and are suppose to do. For me, I am looking for a way out and off of the med surg floor. I am watching RN's that are 4 years into their job and want to get out because the job is "killing" them. They cite their reasons as "not enough help", "demanding patients and families", "no breaks", "arguements and disrespect from doctors", "lifting heavier patients kills my back," etc. Hospitals, Nursing homes, doctor offices are working short staffed and work ethics have changed. This profession is in trouble. The baby boomers are aging and are dropping out of the workforce. There are not enough people to fill their job positions and nursing is one of them. There are nearly 77 million baby boomers. Wait until they all need medical care in the next 10-20 years. The nursing profession is going to be in for a very rough ride when the boomers leave the nursing profession which they are currently doing. I have some years left and will go back for that Master's degree so I can get away from floor nursing. So why are nurses leaving? Multiple reasons but the bottom line is that PROFIT comes before people in ALL medical professions. Thus the reason the doctor's office nurse has been replaced by the medical assistant. (I recently spoke with a MA who was doing complex dressing changes in an office with no experience in wound care and no, the doctor did not show her how to do it she just did it!.) If it goes on behind closed doors and no one knows then what is the difference. The general public does not know who treats them except it was that "nice nurse" at the doctors office who did it. MA's cost less to hire than an experienced nurse. Interesting to note that a number of doctors at our facility think that nurses make too much money! These doctors are usually older and established surgeons who have made their millions already. Bottom line......MONEY;)

Great Post and right on!

I just love paying for thier healthcare! After all I pay one thousand one hundred dollars a month for MY FAMILY's Health benefits EACH MONTH! How is that for contributing to THEIR health care! This is the reason why our country is going broke! The illegals do not carry health insurance so they get to treat for free (on my dime) at their local ER. If they cannot make it then they should turn right around and go back to THEIR country! They should also get in line just like my ancestors did long ago and enter LEGALLY! As I ponder this situation I often wonder if I CAN GO TO ANY OTHER COUNTRY and receive FREE MEDICAL CARE and FREE MONEY just like the wonderful USA provides to immigrants with five and six "legal" children per couple. What about responsible reproduction instead of how much more a mommy can get for another child off the welfare system. (Seen it in three generations of one family!) No...I am not lucky for having health care...I am paying for it by WORKING 12 hours shifts, night-shift, never see my kids except two nights a week, have not had a real vacation in a few years, but I provide for my family, health insurance and all. What a concept. Now if we can just get those IVDA's with those "spider bites" from spending 3-5 weeks in the hospital after shooting up and becoming infected! There is another "sucking population". OOPS, I know..... I am NOT politically correct here. NO APOLOGIES from me! Oh yeah, when I retire I will look at the states that have enacted the same law as Colorado. Toche' Gov. Bill Owens! Thank you Thank you!

Good for you! I AGREE with you all the way. We had a street person who injected meth into his shoulder. He was there for three weeks. He threatened everyone. I called the supervisor and he told me to "make sure the guy did not get between me and the door"! This was nightshift with only three nurses on! When I talked to a state person (Labor and Industries, Workmen's Comp) they wanted to know what hospital, what supervisor, and a full report on what happened. The state (WA) does not like threats made to nurses and they (hospitals) can be reported and cited for putting staff in dangerous situations.

JWK....why you are absolutely right about all this...how crazy of me to believe that I was treated with Malice. You must be a member of the "old boys club" too.

All gone! It was only a dream.

CWK Not looking to complain buddy, just told my story.

It was only a dream.....

I think she meant "more respect from the doctors". This is my gripe too. These guys bombard the floor and many cannot even say hello after being greeted. Why? Because Nurses are below them. Doctors are gods! After all they float into their pants don't they? This is one of the things I really dislike about nursing in general. So many doctors are just so arrogant and above everyone. They are demanding and expect to be waited on. Thank goodness those times have changed. I use to follow doctors around and stand there waiting for their precious words and orders to flow from their god like mouths. Not any more! It is interesting how things change when a doctor is on the other end and receives nursing care after a surgery or illness.

Ativan is thinner when warm and therefore easier to draw up and give IV or IM.