Rant and steam

Published

Specializes in Telemetry.

Does anyone else feel that nurses, in general, are given to much responsibility with out enough help to pull it off? I've felt that way since the first day I became a nurse and I'm just darn tired of it? Why are nurses such wussies? My first job was pre/post CABG care. We were promised a 4 to one ratio with aids who would have 8 to 1. What ACTUALLY happened was 5 to 1 and sometimes 6 to 1 with aids who had 8-10 to 1. CABG pts are hooked up to all sorts of stuff post op that can take several days to get off and in the meantime I'm suppose to make sure the pt gets up to walk 3 times a day. Even though we have PT, and I had an aid, this order rarely got done. If the patient was 'healthy' and could pretty much walk him self with all the gizzmos attached then that pt could get it done, any pt that was real work to get out of bed usually only gets one walk a day because my aid and I are to busy to get them up.

Now I'm a traveler and I'm working on a med/surg floor that expects me to take care of 6-10+ without an aid or any other sort of assistance. Mostly it's hip replacements, knee replacements, GI surgeries, back surgeries, and so on, but plenty of the clients are 70+ and can't get out of their beds and a fair share are complete care. So really, how do I answer call lights for stuff like food, going potty, bathing, etc. AND still do my job?

I guess that is the kinda of poo that makes me so angry. I want to do the orders, and want to take good care of my patients, but I literally don't have the time to do so. I don't understand why we as nurses are willing to put ourselves through this. I'm tired asking other nurses how to get it all done and gettting answers like, "work faster". Well first of all I'm working as fast as I can and it's not getting done. Second of all we shouldn't have to go to work and bust a** every day to get the bare minimum done for our patients. See, on an average working day we SHOULD be able to go to work and walk at a normal speed, pee 2 - 3 times while we are at work, SIT down and eat for 30 minutes AND STILL be able to adquate (not bare minimum) care to the patients AND get all of the paper work done AND leave on time.

What I'm frustrated with is that other nurses say stuff like. "Yeah, that'll be the day." or "Don't count on it." REALLY? Why? What because this sort of treatment is our 'norm' we should put up with it? Well that's crazy talk. I refuse to do so. I WILL walk at a normal walking pace, I WILL take a 30 minute lunch, and I WILL pee. Unless something HAS to be done immediatly or someone's in trouble THAT is what I'm getting paid to do.

So I understand that the order for the antibiotic was put in at 11:30 and I'm just now at 16:30 getting it started, but guess what?? 5 hours later is NOT going to kill the guy. When I say something that needs to be done ASAP, I'm talking about life threating situations. I realize that in nursing care some orders work better the sooner you start them, but that is the kind of crap I'm talking about. If I had a patient ratio that was doable (in my terms not what the hospital knows I can PROBABLY do if I bust my butt) then these things would get done. I'm all for being concerned about the patient, but here's the problem. The more we try to do everything we can to get the patients everything we need, the more hospitals believe that the ratios we have are acceptiable. Thus the only way for them to see that they aren't acceptable loads is TO WORK AT A NORMAL PACE and not get everything done.

Does that make sense? The nurses I work with get so angry because I'm handing them off stuff at the end of the shift, well deal with it. I'm tired of being questioned over and over again about WHY I didn't get something done. Guess what your blood is hanging and other similarly important stuff, the darn antibiotic was last on my list because stuff like blood was higher. Now you get to try to do it. Good luck. Have fun.

We need a nationwide floor nurses union or something. This kind of work enviroment makes me want out of nursing SO BAD! Please believe me, I'm activley trying to get out of it. This is not right. It is not safe. And it is not good for ANY nurse's health. So why, oh why, do so many nurses verbally chastize me for saying so?

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Ohhh Dang! At least your a traveler... Then again maybe thats the reason? Are they dumping all the extra on you because your a traveler? How many weeks until you can skip town??

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
we shouldn't have to go to work and bust a** every day to get the bare minimum done for our patients. See, on an average working day we SHOULD be able to go to work and walk at a normal speed, pee 2 - 3 times while we are at work, SIT down and eat for 30 minutes AND STILL be able to adquate (not bare minimum) care to the patients AND get all of the paper work done AND leave on time.

...

The more we try to do everything we can to get the patients everything we need, the more hospitals believe that the ratios we have are acceptiable. Thus the only way for them to see that they aren't acceptable loads is TO WORK AT A NORMAL PACE and not get everything done.

I wholeheartedly agree.

This was my issue with a recent post which appeared to chastise those who don't pick up all possible OT "so that coworkers aren't working short".

Nope - not having it. Trying to be SuperNurse and accomplish the impossible is actually counterproductive to the goal of safe, quality patient care.

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilites,.

The demands are ridiculous on nurses. Mgmt thinks they can just keep on adding more documentation and taking away our support staff and it will be fine. Well guess what, it's not.

I agree we really need a union, especially before the health care reform really sets in. In my hospital they are cutting staff "to prepare for the new health care reform bill." I think floor nurses will be getting screwed big time.

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I admire your spirit. Now, put your money where your mouth is. YOU be the one to start that union.

Just a word of advice, though, if I may - you had better have a back-up plan for how you will pay your bills. When you stand up, you do become a target, you know. Not saying not to speak up, just to be ready for the bosses to return fire. And for your colleagues the first to tie your hands, put the blindfold on, and stand you up against the wall. He!!, they'll probably even give you your last cigarette.

The only thing I know to do is to educate legislators and the public about what is really happening in hospitals today. As I said, I do admire your spirit. God bless you.

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The demands are ridiculous on nurses. Mgmt thinks they can just keep on adding more documentation and taking away our support staff and it will be fine. Well guess what, it's not.

I agree we really need a union, especially before the health care reform really sets in. In my hospital they are cutting staff "to prepare for the new health care reform bill." I think floor nurses will be getting screwed big time.

How does cutting staff prepare for the reform?

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

What really makes my blood boil is when management points the finger at the nurse for having 'poor time management skills' rather than understaffing and overloading of patient care.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
What really makes my blood boil is when management points the finger at the nurse for having 'poor time management skills' rather than understaffing and overloading of patient care.

I strongly believe that anyone in a nurse management position should be required to work one shift a month to keep in touch with reality. Things look very different on paper than they do during implementation.

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilites,.
How does cutting staff prepare for the reform?

They argue that when the reform hits, reimbursement will be at a all time low and census will be high. Our staffing matrix will be reconfigured to have each nurse take more pts while support staff being cut. They say that now they are tweaking those matrix so it will not be such a big shock. I think it is a bunch of bull and the hospital is just trying to make as much profit as possible before the reform happens.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

Yeah, I've been researching about lobbist and how to go about this in a political manner. It's not so much that I think we need to be unionized as there are just standards that administrators and paper pushers have no idea as to what they are asking us to do.

Like I think we need a national nursing advocate counsil or something. So JACHO puts standards on hospitals for safety of patients. I think there needs to be an organization for the safety of nurses. I realize that everytime I open my mouth I'm more likely to lose money. I'm trying to create a financial cushion in the next 2 - 5 years so that I don't have to care if they go at me or not. I became a nurse because I care about people, not because I care about money, yet I need money to live. What a situation.

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Specializes in acute rehab, psych, home health, agencey.

As we all know, to our bean counter bosses who either have 0 background in nursing or too little or too long ago experience, floor or cart nurses bring o reimbursement via medicaire or health insurance plans. Thus we cost money they cant get back, to compensate they increase workloads to improve the bottom line and roll the dice and hope for "positive outcomes". And if we dare to express our professionnel concern related to patient safety in almost any form we earn a big bullseye on our back

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Does anyone else feel that nurses, in general, are given to much responsibility with out enough help to pull it off? I've felt that way since the first day I became a nurse and I'm just darn tired of it? Why are nurses such wussies? My first job was pre/post CABG care. We were promised a 4 to one ratio with aids who would have 8 to 1. What ACTUALLY happened was 5 to 1 and sometimes 6 to 1 with aids who had 8-10 to 1. CABG pts are hooked up to all sorts of stuff post op that can take several days to get off and in the meantime I'm suppose to make sure the pt gets up to walk 3 times a day. Even though we have PT, and I had an aid, this order rarely got done. If the patient was 'healthy' and could pretty much walk him self with all the gizzmos attached then that pt could get it done, any pt that was real work to get out of bed usually only gets one walk a day because my aid and I are to busy to get them up.

Now I'm a traveler and I'm working on a med/surg floor that expects me to take care of 6-10+ without an aid or any other sort of assistance. Mostly it's hip replacements, knee replacements, GI surgeries, back surgeries, and so on, but plenty of the clients are 70+ and can't get out of their beds and a fair share are complete care. So really, how do I answer call lights for stuff like food, going potty, bathing, etc. AND still do my job?

I guess that is the kinda of poo that makes me so angry. I want to do the orders, and want to take good care of my patients, but I literally don't have the time to do so. I don't understand why we as nurses are willing to put ourselves through this. I'm tired asking other nurses how to get it all done and gettting answers like, "work faster". Well first of all I'm working as fast as I can and it's not getting done. Second of all we shouldn't have to go to work and bust a** every day to get the bare minimum done for our patients. See, on an average working day we SHOULD be able to go to work and walk at a normal speed, pee 2 - 3 times while we are at work, SIT down and eat for 30 minutes AND STILL be able to adquate (not bare minimum) care to the patients AND get all of the paper work done AND leave on time.

What I'm frustrated with is that other nurses say stuff like. "Yeah, that'll be the day." or "Don't count on it." REALLY? Why? What because this sort of treatment is our 'norm' we should put up with it? Well that's crazy talk. I refuse to do so. I WILL walk at a normal walking pace, I WILL take a 30 minute lunch, and I WILL pee. Unless something HAS to be done immediatly or someone's in trouble THAT is what I'm getting paid to do.

So I understand that the order for the antibiotic was put in at 11:30 and I'm just now at 16:30 getting it started, but guess what?? 5 hours later is NOT going to kill the guy. When I say something that needs to be done ASAP, I'm talking about life threating situations. I realize that in nursing care some orders work better the sooner you start them, but that is the kind of crap I'm talking about. If I had a patient ratio that was doable (in my terms not what the hospital knows I can PROBABLY do if I bust my butt) then these things would get done. I'm all for being concerned about the patient, but here's the problem. The more we try to do everything we can to get the patients everything we need, the more hospitals believe that the ratios we have are acceptiable. Thus the only way for them to see that they aren't acceptable loads is TO WORK AT A NORMAL PACE and not get everything done.

Does that make sense? The nurses I work with get so angry because I'm handing them off stuff at the end of the shift, well deal with it. I'm tired of being questioned over and over again about WHY I didn't get something done. Guess what your blood is hanging and other similarly important stuff, the darn antibiotic was last on my list because stuff like blood was higher. Now you get to try to do it. Good luck. Have fun.

We need a nationwide floor nurses union or something. This kind of work enviroment makes me want out of nursing SO BAD! Please believe me, I'm activley trying to get out of it. This is not right. It is not safe. And it is not good for ANY nurse's health. So why, oh why, do so many nurses verbally chastize me for saying so?

Because they are either ignorant, and/or afraid.

Said it before and I will say it to my dying day: Don't like it? Call NNUA and find out how it can change. Want to be a punching bag for fat cat administrators making bonuses off of your short shifts? Keep silent.

You have to STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR PATIENTS. Get out on the darn picket line, or call, or at least show uo for the meetings. Do you somehow think this will happen only by your good wishes?

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