tera1931

Ethically I am bound to say something to try and correct pt care and pt safety issues for better pt outcomes. Ethics and abiding by them are really tuff. I'm having difficulty not getting depressed. I love my job. But when an individual comes into the environment and starts changing things around....Hey I'm down with change....but in nursing best practice and all, any changes should be to improve pt outcomes. There should be some thought about the decision. A new Director and increased admissions, we are always to capacity, so why are we cutting nurses and increasing nurse to pt ratio which puts pts at risk. So up the chain of command I go with no responses that weren't just a pat on the head, while pt's are getting hurt due to high nurse to pt ratio. There was absolutely no reason to cut the nurses except unwillingness to fill the slot. None...It couldn't be to improve pt care and safety because it has done the opposite which a blind man could've of seen. Anyway, up the chain with no responses. Decision just except this substandard care and go on and do my best with it or try to get somebody to listen and change it for the better of the patient and their care. I went to the standardizing and regulatory bodies. Now I examine my motives and they were correct but the backlash is great and I am very depressed for I fear I will have to walk away from my job I love. Just trying to cope. Living by an ethical code comes at a price. Fellow nurses have already begun to do the ostracizing thing. Why do nurses do that to each other? RN on an acute psychiatric Unit

I work in an acute psych unit. The management/US (and God help us he's a nurse) decided we didn't need a third nurse for 27 pts. No rhyme or reason to the decision. Pt care has suffered and patient safety has really suffered. In nursing usually you make a decision that is based on positive pt outcomes. no such thing here. It was purely financial and not wanting to go to the trouble of getting that third nurse. It's really bad. The law would help. Maybe I could at least do an assessment on my patients. 13 patients is a little out of control.