ellemae93

When family brings 3-4 young children in to visit a patient and allow them to misbehave. There is no reason children should be screaming, running, or playing in the hallways of a hospital. It happens way too often and so many parents/guardians just sit there while their children behave like they're at a Chuckie Cheese, not a hospital. One of my co-workers actually had to change because she was emptying a foley and a kid kicked the foley and spilled urine down the front of the CNA's top. Last week an RN from another unit slipped and fell on water in the hallway leading to the cafeteria. Why was there a massive pool of water on the floor? Security pulled up camera footage and saw two kids having a water balloon fight in the hallway earlier that evening. Unbelievable. I'm of the mind that small children (under age 10 I would say), unless they are directly related to the patient should not be visiting the hospital, and especially not late at night. A hospital with dozens of sick people and germs is not a place for little kids.

I'm so upset. Tonight we had an 8-year-old post-op patient arrive to our floor. She was doing fine, getting settled, and decided she was hungry. At my hospital we offer post-op patients who missed one of their meal-times an after hours menu. They circle their choice of whatever cold-cut sandwich, canned, soup, and side and we fax it down to the cafeteria and go to pick it up for them, which is what we did for this kid. So I go down to pick it up and the dietary assistant VERY rudely tells me "This was faxed down at 1:31! Cut off time is 1:30AM! She's not getting anything!" I was sort of dumbfounded at this response and reminded her that this was a kid who hadn't ate all day. She still refused. The cafeteria is open until 2AM, and there were still plenty of employees purchasing food and being served, so it wasn't like I went down there 5 minutes before closing, it was just after 1:30. I asked if there was really no one who could slap some turkey on a piece of bread for the kid. They still refused and told me I had to go to the ER and see if they had any leftover sandwiches. The kid had also wanted a milkshake, which I knew they would never give to me, so I just paid for it myself to give to her. What's really upsetting is that when a similar incident happened in the past, our manager and the dietary manager reached an agreement and decided that kids were an exception to the rule when it came to after hours nutrition. If a kid wants an extra fruit cup, so be it. So I was really shocked when they didn't miss a beat in telling me that this kid couldn't have a sandwich. (the pt's age is listed on the fax so they knew it was a child) It's also not like I was asking them to fire up the grill and make her something fancy - the kid wanted a cold turkey sandwich, chips, and chicken noodle soup, which we prepare on the floor after they give us a small can and styrofoam bowl. And a milkshake. I fully understand the dietary department has their own manager and rules but I just found it really upsetting that no attempt was made to provide some nutrition to this kid. If they didn't want to make a sandwich they could have at least offered me a can of soup and a bag of chips, I think. Oh... and the kid's father was standing in line waiting to pay for the snack he had bought himself and his wife and overheard the whole exchange. Real nice. At least he heard it happen and knew it wasn't just the nursing staff screwing around and not feeding his kid. He was very pleasant about it all, but needless to say was not happy. Nursing staff told the kid she could have whatever she wanted off the menu and here she was, getting almost nothing. What a bunch of drama over a sandwich that was ordered one minute too late.

I would document every instance of refusal and quote what was said by the pt. For example: "Pt refusing daily shower, states she 'feels too tired and sick'. Will offer again later." And of course, offer pt a shower again and document that you offered multiple times. That's kinda all you can do.

Hey AllNurses! I am a CNA with 5 years of experience, two of them being on a Women's Health/Pediatrics unit in a hospital. I applied for a position as a "School Certified Med Tech" and landed an interview this Monday! I'd never heard of such a position, I thought only RNs operated health clinics within schools. I've been making an effort to break away from med-surge CNA work so this is an exciting opportunity for me. I am not a certified med tech however, but if I am understanding the description on the job application correctly it says I have 90 days to complete the course and become certified. The only "requirement" listed was "three years experience as a CNA". Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the scope of this sort of position or what to expect in the interview. I am being interviewed at my local board of education office so I'm not sure if an RN or healthcare professional will be present or not, of if it will just be school administrators. Thanks in advance!