Patricia Smith

Nurses who are reading this discussion please ready carefully the response from the nurse from California! WE have much to learn--get a copy policy and utilize this as your standard. NEVER accept an assignment that you feel in your heart is "unsafe"! When they started floating nurses in our unit (this was a few years ago when I was doing NICU-and they wanted to float us to PICU), we called the nursing supervisor, told her that we vehemently objected to the "floating" and all of us signed the sheet which stated if she "floated" any of us, she would be held accountable as we had informed her that we felt "unsafe" outside the area of the NICU. We were NEVER floated because we all stuck together! It wasn't one nurse objecting--it was the WHOLE unit! In unity there is strength! Hang ON!!

Hello OR nurses: What a dying breed you are! We here in Phoenix are sending an invitation to anyone out there willing to re-locate! I am currently working in a hospital where the management is behind the nurses (especially in the Peri-operative Service Areas). I am hearing a few nurses who love the OR but just aren't in the right place! Ever consider Phoenix? We are coming at the end of our summer right now and with our winter in the 60's--it is a wonderful time to be here. We have had some changes in our hospital with managment and they have all been positive changes. We have been hit with the shortage big time and in the summer with weather at the 120 degree mark--who wants to be in Phoenix? Now is a great time...I am inviting you to contact our nurse recruiter Mary Jean Mazarella at 602-344-5802 (Please call collect and she will accept!) I love working where I am right now and am poised for growth at out facility--I also take my hat off to California Nurses Association!! I wish we all had the courage and initiative to follow their lead and there wouldn't be so many of us unhappy Nurses! Good Luck Sisters!! (You may also contact me at [email protected])

I am 48 and have to wait 2 more years until my youngest hits college--I am looking so foward to traveling--please don't tell me I'm too OLD! Remember, it is JUST a number--maybe I will meet you on my travels!! Good Luck!

I CAN HEAR YOU! We are also experiencing the "holding pattern" of patients exactly as you are! Some changes that we had implemented--We scheduled one (1) RN in-house from 11P-7A. The second one is on-call. We have a good relationship with our OR, so usually, we can get one of them to sit with us. Remember, it doesn't have to be an RN..sometimes that can make the difference! We ARE utlizing PRN to cover second call on the weekend! WE had to due to exactly what you are talking about--our administration wouldn't listen either until we all sat on the floor one day--did not allow any surgeries to continue unless Administration came down and met with us...hang in there.....stick together....you can get what you need by showing them that you MEAN BUSINESS!!

Michelle: I work in a busy County facility with 12 OR's and 400 bed capacity. We average 25-40 cases per day and I utilize 6 RN's and a very busy unit secretary/transporter. In our facility, if the patient is an ICU patient or Step-Down ICU patient, they MUST go with a rgistered nurse. If the patient is on any drips or in a monitored bed, an RN must go. Now, if the patient is a floor patient, stable with baseline vitals signs then the transporter can take him alone to his floor. We do not have a Phase I to Phase II recovery system (due to our current staffing shortage). I hope this helps in your research!