readers digest? nursing shortage!!!

Keysnurse2008 · Oct 13, 2003

The public does not have a clue as to how we are short staffed,overworked and the unsafe high acquity of nurse to pt ratios we are forced to work under.......the public should read articles like this daily and Maybe they will grasp a clue .......and realize WE are not the lazy villan......we are just stretched in tooo many directions.......if you have 2 iv pumps going off, one patient needs assistance to the br,...another is wondering why you Still havent delivered his ice water he requested 10 min ago.and your iv antibiotics need to be hung, the patients family wants to speak to you in 2 rooms ,..and your patient in room 2 just pulled out his iv and the iv team is gone.....and one other patient asked for pain meds 20 min ago and you cant make it there still. And the doc wants to POINT THE FINGER AT WHO?????when a patient suffers!!!!!!It is sad.....we are all dedicated to top patient care and cant provide it due to the workload....we are set up for failure

Brita01 · Oct 13, 2003

Originally posted by TNNURSE
The public does not have a clue as to how we are short staffed,overworked and the unsafe high acquity of nurse to pt ratios we are forced to work under.......the public should read articles like this daily and Maybe they will grasp a clue .......and realize WE are not the lazy villan......we are just stretched in tooo many directions.......if you have 2 iv pumps going off, one patient needs assistance to the br,...another is wondering why you Still havent delivered his ice water he requested 10 min ago.and your iv antibiotics need to be hung, the patients family wants to speak to you in 2 rooms ,..and your patient in room 2 just pulled out his iv and the iv team is gone.....and one other patient asked for pain meds 20 min ago and you cant make it there still. And the doc wants to POINT THE FINGER AT WHO?????when a patient suffers!!!!!!It is sad.....we are all dedicated to top patient care and cant provide it due to the workload....we are set up for failure

Correct! And I don't see it changing soon at all. As long as the hospitals cry "nursing shortage" and the schools keep cranking out new nurses, there will always be one to take the place of a nurse who is fed up with the working conditions. Why make changes when you can just replace someone?

NancyRN · Oct 13, 2003

In my facility, a large part of performance evaluations is based upon surveys sent home with patients. One big no no is: "the nurse seemed rushed." I mean...I wouldn't wanna RUSH.....

tonicareer · Oct 13, 2003

Actually I think the public is slowly becoming more aware of the problems nurses are facing. I know people have mentioned to me their experiences in hospitals and know it is not the nurses fault that they are short staffed. I think many patients know it is a money factor and insurance factor and profit factor. But how much do they really listen to patients in the CEO office? I say just keep up saying what you are saying on this message board and more people will become aware. I know changes are not happening fast enough. But keep telling people.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Oct 13, 2003

Originally posted by NancyRN
In my facility, a large part of performance evaluations is based upon surveys sent home with patients. One big no no is: "the nurse seemed rushed." I mean...I wouldn't wanna RUSH.....

Well, isn't that what the Powers That May Be want?: Everything done faster and faster....and faster?

They need to get a freakin' life!!

Brita01 · Oct 14, 2003

Originally posted by NancyRN
In my facility, a large part of performance evaluations is based upon surveys sent home with patients. One big no no is: "the nurse seemed rushed." I mean...I wouldn't wanna RUSH.....

If they don't want the patients to perceive us as being rushed, they need to have a decent and manageable nurse to patient ratio. Hospitals need to learn that they can't have things both ways.

live4today, RN · Oct 14, 2003

Originally posted by TNNURSE
The public does not have a clue as to how we are short staffed,overworked and the unsafe high acquity of nurse to pt ratios we are forced to work under.......the public should read articles like this daily and Maybe they will grasp a clue .......and realize WE are not the lazy villan......we are just stretched in tooo many directions.......if you have 2 iv pumps going off, one patient needs assistance to the br,...another is wondering why you Still havent delivered his ice water he requested 10 min ago.and your iv antibiotics need to be hung, the patients family wants to speak to you in 2 rooms ,..and your patient in room 2 just pulled out his iv and the iv team is gone.....and one other patient asked for pain meds 20 min ago and you cant make it there still. And the doc wants to POINT THE FINGER AT WHO?????when a patient suffers!!!!!!It is sad.....we are all dedicated to top patient care and cant provide it due to the workload....we are set up for failure

Sounds to me as if you and I work on the same unit. :chuckle

Glad to hear where I work is not the only place like that. It is so obvious that things like this are going on in a lot of hospitals in the USA, and probably in some foreign countries as well.

No one wants a resolution to this age-old problem either. I don't know why not because the problem "aint" that hard to repair...IMHPO! :rolleyes:

mother/babyRN, RN · Oct 16, 2003

Hmmm...maybe I should write something up and send it in...Speaking for all of us...what do ya think? :) Just tell me what message you want to send...

skaosiris · Oct 25, 2003

Hi--adding a few more cents. As a LNA and MA, I have seen family members get in the way many times and pester the nursing staff or demand things or order things as if they were in a restaurant! I do not want to be misunderstood--this is not most of the time, but it is increasing and it is a hinderence to taking care of the patient. Most families are perfectly nice, understanding, unobtrusive and concerned for their loved one.

The ones that are in your face and scrutinizing your every move thinking they know what they are talking about because they saw something on ER are increasingly annoying. For my own part, if being nice does not work, I will tell the family members that they need to leave for a few minutes because they are in my way ( I say it half jokingly ofcourse).

The reasons for this reach back to another note I posted to this website: we keep treating patients and families like customers rather than like patients. As has been mentioned in this site, being a good nurse is not synonymous with being a good corporate employee! As i've said before, patients ( and families) are real people and real people(families) need to be told to back off when they are crowding you. Part of the reason "customers are so daring is because of that thoroughly disgusting mantra that the "customer is always right".

Also, as was mentioned in this site, another reason for these types of problems is that magazines ( like Reader's Digest)

constatnly advise that as a customer, not only should you participate in your own healthcare (which I completely agree with), you keep pestering your nurse or doctor until you get what you want; until you get that test result or that glass of gingerale you asked for a full 3 minutes ago!. These articles never bother to mention that the lack of money, timeliness, and staff are not usually the fault of the healthcare professional and usually not in their control. It usually IS the fault of the other wonderful elements of our healthcare system such as insurance and pharmacutical companies, and other corporations that buy a nursing home mererly to try to make money which they do by cutting staff as soon as they purchase it ( trust me--I,ve seen this happen a couple of times in places I have worked.) And sorrry to all of you "lay people" that may be reading this, but the federal government (medicare) is the worst insurance company of them all. Hospitals and doctor's offices are reinbursed the least from medicare than any other insurance company for the care they provide to you. Many people do not realize that insurance companies are guarding all the doors to healthcare access and they are holdiing all the keys. They have immense control over how a doctor's office or hospital is run--we are always jumping through hoops for them trying to get a test payed for (covered)

for our patients.

I have one more point to make here, which is really getting off the subject, but I can't stop myself--often my mind does not work even this fluidly! Some patients need to be more patient. Too many people think the world owes them something and that like McDonalds, we shoud have drive thru medicine and that healthcare should be a convenience--it isn't and nor should it be.

Healthcare is to help people get well and stay well, and it should be one of the more important things in which a person participates. The point of healthcare ( even just a doctor's office visit for a really bad cold) is not fix you in 5 minutes so you can get home before your favorite program starts or get back to work before the pile on your desk grows anymore. Convenience stores operate on this premise, not healthcare.

I do not want this to came out like an attack on anyone, but these (dare I say) truths need to be out there. The "evil" powers that be are counting on healthcare professionals to not mention things like this, we are informally nudged away from this by being made to feel this is inappropriate. After all, how could a caring and compassionate healthcare professional say such things--they are counting on our guilt.

I hear heliocopters above--Big Brother has come for me for writing this note--I gotta go...bye...

Brita01 · Oct 26, 2003

Skaosiris, I loved your entire post, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Originally posted by skaosiris
Some patients need to be more patient. Too many people think the world owes them something and that like McDonalds, we shoud have drive thru medicine and that healthcare should be a convenience--it isn't and nor should it be.
Healthcare is to help people get well and stay well, and it should be one of the more important things in which a person participates. The point of healthcare ( even just a doctor's office visit for a really bad cold) is not fix you in 5 minutes so you can get home before your favorite program starts or get back to work before the pile on your desk grows anymore. Convenience stores operate on this premise, not healthcare.

This reminds me of the patient I had once in home health. I could only come to her house during a certain time, otherwise I'd interrupt her soap operas. Can you believe that? Not easy when you have patients spread out in a rural area.