pyegirlrn

That is so Sad! Most of my family has died off and the rest of my family is distant except for my youngest son and husband. If you can't share the good AND the bad with people what is the point for having them in your life? That is what lead to my prior divorce. I knew that when the bad times hit, I would be facing it alone.

I work in a small rural hospital in GA with 3 fast-track beds and 9 ER beds. There is a small triage area with one nurse and no tech. There are 2 registrars next to the waiting area who obtain the initial complaint and registration information. Then they call over the intercom for the triage nurse. After the all the triages are completed, it is the expectation that the triage nurse will come back and help the other nurses to discharge and care for their patient. She just hopes that she can break loose to go to the triage area. My concern is that there may be legal liability in leaving my triage post. Another concern is that I feel that the triage position is not respected and no matter what you help the nurses do it is never enough. Please advise. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I worked until recently on a "critical care area" called Neuro-Stepdown. We routinely accepted ventilator dependent, hemodynamic altering drips, multiple tubes and frequent OTBS with a staffing matrix that states we should have a 1:4 ratio. Gradually the ratio increased to 1:5, but recently and more frequently was 1:6. On many occasions, my co-workers and I had talked about how taking more than 5 patients on our floor is dangerous. Now was the test time, 3 nurses scheduled with 6 patients a piece, one pct, and 1/2 shift unit clerk/monitor tech. Two of the three nurses refused to take that assignment, but we were looking for alternatives. The supervisor, NM, and Director of Critical Care told us "there is no help to send you and no beds to move any patients to. Either take report or consider yourselves voluntarily resigned." We left and in 2 hours 2 nurses were brought in to take our 6 patients, but "there is no help to send you" rang through my mind. I am planning on still attempting to receive unemployment since I believe I was left no choice, but to lose my job, a patient, or possibly my license. You must draw a line somewhere and stand by it. I will not put my patient's lives in jeopardy for a hospital or money. I have been in this situation once before and patients died, because of short staffing. Now there is research showing what safe staffing levels are and there is no more excuse for managers or nurses. That level is 2 in ICU, 4 in PCU/Stepdown, and 6 on the medical/surgical floor.

Yes, something like this may be coming to a hospital near you. It's called the Disneyland Model and our hospital has "bought into it" and we are being forced to sign an agreement that we are too. If we don't then maybe we need to work at another hospital or on another unit. Gee, that made me feel so wanted! I think it is totally inappropriate for a hospital to try and be like Disney, especially when we are working short-staffed. I wish I could afford to retire....

Dear Burnout, I am on the same treadmill that you are on and due to circumstances that are out of my control, I could be looking at having to walk away from my primary mortgage and move to an area where my great-grandfather built a home(which has a small mortgage--long story). There is no "thing" or "debt" that will make me wish for an early death. After all, they are predicting that some catastrophic event will end it all in 2012 anyway. My family is what I wake up for every day and what enlivens me to endure whatever work may throw my way. Even living in a tent would be preferable to being dead without them. You sound depressed, so change your focus. I have a friend who has no young children and she is returning to school for a double degree--a Masters in Psychology with a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Degree at 54. What is your love? Why do you think that God created you? Find a niche and express your passion either in Nursing or out. Remember that God hasn't created any junk and He loves you. Praise God and He will return your joy to you. God Bless You!