"I don't want an admit..."

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As a charge nurse on a med/surg unit during the 7p shift, I am guaranteed to hear this at least one time each shift.

Yes, it's a busy shift; yes, I know you have another 4-5 patients; yes, I know Mr. Johnson needs his dressing changed and Mrs. Conner needs her PRN Norco...but it's your turn. You're up, everyone else has had an admit.

It's a simple fact on our floor--patient come to hospital; s/he is ill or has a surgical procedure planned; s/he is needing to be admitted; each admission needs a nurse. What is so hard to understand.

I help "my" staff lots with admits. I open and set up the room (if our aides are busy). I get all the stuff ready so you don't have to hunt for it--IV pole there; O2, Flowmeter, Christmas tree ready; tele monitor and leads there; admission kit on table; wound care supplies there if needed; NG tube or oral suction ready and waiting. And I'm gonna be in the room, so if there's something missing, I'll run and get it.

I help get the patient settled in and grab the orders.

I put the chart together, enter the orders, write out the MAR's, fill out the home med sheet and immunization sheet--if I can. The only thing I HAVE to do is put the chart together and enter the orders. The rest I do to help So basically the RN/LVN gets the patient in bed, assesses him, connects any tubes/lines, then take the completed paperwork. If there's any problems, I'll call the doc. I won't leave anybody hanging.

So that admit really wasn't that bad--half your stuff (paperwork) is done, your room was set up appropriately, all your orders are in.

I can't make it easier than that--do the computer assessment and care plan and you're done. (I do the computer stuff too, about 50% of the time).

Why is it such a big deal to get an admit? Why do you have to **** and moan about it? Why are you arguing that "it's not fair" or "it's not my turn"?

Put your big girl panties on, hush your mouth, and take the patient!

Thank you for letting me VENT!!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Tele, Ortho-Trauma.

You're welcome!

And by the way you sound like a great charge nurse...I would love to have so much help!!

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

I hear you had a nurse moan to me that opening up flex beds is stupid. Right, ........... so leaving ED full and ambulances ramped is a better idea? Its winter here in the public health system suck it up!

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You're welcome!

And by the way you sound like a great charge nurse...I would love to have so much help!!

I think we'd work well together! I'm all for teamwork! :-)

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I hear you had a nurse moan to me that opening up flex beds is stupid. Right ........... so leaving ED full and ambulances ramped is a better idea? Its winter here in the public health system suck it up![/quote']

I have done some ER shifts, so I know how crazy it can get.

I get so mad when the nurse drags her feet on an ER admit. I'm like, "Come on, get 'em to the floor".

ER calls, I assign a bed, tell the nurse about the admit, get the room opened, then get the chart ready. 15 minutes and I'm ready. This crap about not taking the patient for an hour or two doesn't fly! ER can't hold them just cause you don't wanna take them now.

If my nurse is swamped, I'll take them, get him settled in, and start the admission.

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Someday someone's going to make a name for themselves by coming up with a more seamless way to transfer a patient from the ER to the floor.

And i agree with the others, your nurses should be grateful for all the help you give. Back when I worked in the hospital (as an aide) the charge nurse took a full load of five pts and the other nurses were on their own.

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Someday someone's going to make a name for themselves by coming up with a more seamless way to transfer a patient from the ER to the floor.

And i agree with the others, your nurses should be grateful for all the help you give. Back when I worked in the hospital (as an aide) the charge nurse took a full load of five pts and the other nurses were on their own.

I usually don't take a patient load. But I do the help with admits, make all calls to MD's, monitor our tele (no techs), answer the phone (we get all the hospital calls after 2000), help with MAR reconciliations, do all the checklists/equipment checks, and help the CNA's on the q2 turns/changes. I answer call lights and try to help the nurses as much as possible.

If the nurses are overwhelmed, I take patients. I do really try not to screw over anyone....usually. ;-)

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Wow. You essentially do everything for an admission. Assess, hook-up, medicate if needed is about the only thing the care nurse has to do. Not sure there's any room for moaning about that!! And If you have CNA's and you turning and repositioning q2hours, then the only other thing left is to medicate and treatments.

Perhaps it is just the "thought" of an admission? I agree--it is a gift that a charge does all this, so lets just get er done already.

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There are times when I've asked an admit to be held while I scramble to catch up. "The straw that broke the camel's back" comes to mind. Even an "easy" admit can take up time that I just don't have.

A good part of the time, it's no big deal though. I think the biggest anxiety is the unknown. You never know what's coming through the door and how unreasonable, demanding or even unstable they will be.

I agree that you sound like a great charge nurse, though!

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Yay for great charge nurses!!! I used to secretly get upset when I got admissions when I first started working as a nurse. Now I realize that it's part of the job. Patients come in, patients go out. Plus, as a newer nurse in critical care I'm not always assigned the sickest patients so a good way I get experience is with rapid response transfers and ED patients that end up crashing. Plus, I find that if I approach the admission with a good attitude, it usually will go smoother. Sometimes if I remind myself that is a job, it's not always supposed to be easy and pleasant, i get less worked up about getting a hit. I would prefer that the admission not come right before my shift ends or during my lunch break, but that's my luck usually ;)

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Specializes in MICU - CCRN, IR, Vascular Surgery.

You sound like a great charge nurse! Of course no one ever likes an admit, but having help makes it so much better! As does not whining about it.

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Specializes in NICU, OB/GYN.
As a charge nurse on a med/surg unit during the 7p shift, I am guaranteed to hear this at least one time each shift.

Yes, it's a busy shift; yes, I know you have another 4-5 patients; yes, I know Mr. Johnson needs his dressing changed and Mrs. Conner needs her PRN Norco...but it's your turn. You're up, everyone else has had an admit.

It's a simple fact on our floor--patient come to hospital; s/he is ill or has a surgical procedure planned;

s/he is needing to be admitted; each admission needs a nurse. What is so hard to understand.

I help "my" staff lots with admits. I open and set up the room (if our aides are busy). I get all the stuff ready so you don't have to hunt for it--IV pole there; O2, Flowmeter, Christmas tree ready; tele monitor and leads there; admission kit on table; wound care supplies there if needed; NG tube or oral suction ready and waiting. And I'm gonna be in the room, so if there's something missing, I'll run and get it.

I help get the patient settled in and grab the orders.

I put the chart together, enter the orders, write out the MAR's, fill out the home med sheet and immunization sheet--if I can. The only thing I HAVE to do is put the chart together and enter the orders. The rest I do to help

So basically the RN/LVN gets the patient in bed, assesses him, connects any tubes/lines, then take the completed paperwork.

If there's any problems, I'll call the doc. I won't leave anybody hangin.

So that admit really wasn't that bad--half your stuff (paperwork) is done, your room was set up appropriately, all your orders are in.

I can't make it easier than that--do the computer assessment and care plan and you're done. (I do the computer stuff too, about 50% of the time).

Why is it such a big deal to get an admit? Why do you have to **** and moan about it? Why are you arguing that "it's not fair" or "it's not my turn"?

Put your big girl panties on, hush your mouth, and take the patient!

Thank you for letting me VENT!!!

1. I have another perspective. I work in a different environment than you (NICU), but if we walk in and see that the assignment is unsafe, we call management/in-house supervisors to tell them that we're formally objecting to working under such conditions. And we fill out paperwork saying so, and submit it to our union. Which leads me to #2...

2. We complain because if we admit, and we feel that our assignment is unsafe, it puts our patients/licenses/careers at risk. It's not fair to the patients, it's not fair to their families, and it's not fair to any of us.

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