do rns perform housekeeping duties where you work?
i got the shock of my life this week during clinicals. i escorted a female patient to the shower. after i helped the patient with the shower and returned her to her room, i proceeded to my next assigned patient.
my supervising co-nurse stopped me, and told me that i needed to clean the shower. she then walked me down the hall to the housekeeping closet and pointed out the correct bottle of disinfectant i needed to use. she then informed me of the written procedures for cleaning the shower [spray disinfectant on the walls, floors, etc. any surface that the patient may have come in contact with; wait a certain amount of time; then return and rinse the entire shower area down].
i am not a prima donna by any stretch of the imagination , but i naively thought that housekeeping did facility cleaning in the hospital.
well, i remained calm, and sprayed the shower down, but luckily by the time i returned to finish, housekeeping had already finished cleaning the shower.
so, my question to you is this:
are you required to do housekeeping tasks in your workplace?
was this just a power play by the co-nurse to humble the newbie?
I have to jump in on this one, I am the Housekeeping Supervisor on the weekends at the local 180 bed hospital. First of all, thank you to all those nurses that said they would jump in and help because most of the ones where I work WON'T.
The problem at the hospital I work in is during the day we have 15+ housekeepers and then at 3:00 we are down to 4 and me, what a difference huh. I put everyone in a position and then I float around to help everyone out but if we have shortages I have to fill in for people and of course that is of course the night that my pager is going crazy and everyone wants something.
I will be starting RN school in the spring and I am hoping by then the nursing department where I work will have a better attitude towards us in housekeeping, I do put my pants on the same way they do.
yes, some people in other departments help out with tasks outside of their "job description". as a speech pathologist, i have ambulated patients to the bathroom, cleaned up messes (both north-exit and south-exit), and helped prepare rooms for admissions. i've stuffed charts, cleaned refrigerators, and try to do what i can to support our wonderful rehab nurses.
i also get "reminded" on a frequent basis that i am a billable service and i have to provide billable care (read: stop "helping out" so much). but i believe that it's worth it for the teamwork and support we give each other.
Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.
It is just plain ridiculous to pay a professional nurse to spend her time cleaning!
We had to put ourselves on the agenda of the hospital board meeting to be heard on this point. Housekeepping was working from 6 am to 2:30 (but wouldn't answer pages after 2:10). They did not do the terminal cleaning of rooms between patients. They did not change sharps containers. They did not transport laundry and garbage bags from the birthing rooms.
This was changed as soon as the banker and accountant on the board heard about it.
We still don't have them past 10:00pm, but we can handle that, and have even learned (though it is hard) to leave a room for them to tackle in the morning.
The rule on evenings and nights is if you see a trashcan full, then it needs changed. And guess who does it. Whoever sees it, doesn't matter what their job title is.
There would be days when I have 8 to 10 pts. to care of with only one CNA for 30 pts, when I have to pick-up the phone because everyone's turning deaf when there's no secretary...when I have to search for the pt's charts (because it has scattered all over the place after MD's wrote bunches of orders without even bothered flagging it and returning it to the rack) When I have to go crazy dividing my time between doing the actual care for my pts. and transcribing the MD's order that are STAT.. plus attending to a complaining family member because nobody has cleaned their mom!
Now, adding more housekeeping works??? NO! NEVER!!! I am not a superwoman and I only have 2 hands. Let them complain if the trash can is full. And so sorry to the pts. if their sheets has not been changed. My priority is to keep my pts. alive and my license intact.
The rule on evenings and nights is if you see a trashcan full, then it needs changed. And guess who does it. Whoever sees it, doesn't matter what their job title is.
There isn't a "rule" but as a courtesy we do leave the next shift an empty garbage can, the CNAs are good for that, but I do empty trash. I do like a neat room and after I'm finished assessing the patient I straighten things up a bit, and this includes emptying overflowing trash cans.
I still draw the line at cleaning and santizing the room for an admission. :)
question: where was your clinical instructor? what were your clinical goals and expectations for the day?? seems we haven't addressed the issue of how we are treating our nursing students.
maybe your nursing program needs to look at where they are placing you and who is supervising you in the clinical area.
i don't think you were over reacting. you have a valid point re: nursing duties and i hope when you graduate and look for employment you think back to your clinical experiences. your treatment as a student gives you an idea of how it would be as an employee. did you discuss this with your clinical instructor?
what did he/she say? what about the experiences of the other students in your class? what did you learn that day besides some negative feelings about your future profession? sorry you had such a negative experience. the good thing about a forum like allnurses is that you get to see many different points of view.
you will eventually choose where you work and how you will be treated.
ida
originally posted by allsmiles
do rns perform housekeeping duties where you work?
i got the shock of my life this week during clinicals. i escorted a female patient to the shower. after i helped the patient with the shower and returned her to her room, i proceeded to my next assigned patient.
my supervising co-nurse stopped me, and told me that i needed to clean the shower. she then walked me down the hall to the housekeeping closet and pointed out the correct bottle of disinfectant i needed to use. she then informed me of the written procedures for cleaning the shower [spray disinfectant on the walls, floors, etc. any surface that the patient may have come in contact with; wait a certain amount of time; then return and rinse the entire shower area down].
i am not a prima donna by any stretch of the imagination , but i naively thought that housekeeping did facility cleaning in the hospital.
well, i remained calm, and sprayed the shower down, but luckily by the time i returned to finish, housekeeping had already finished cleaning the shower.
so, my question to you is this:
are you required to do housekeeping tasks in your workplace?
was this just a power play by the co-nurse to humble the newbie?
I'm a little confused here? In the RN Program I'm attending bed making is covered in lecture and lab. So doesn't "bed making" fall under a nurse's scope of practice.
If it doesn't why is it covered in the RN Program?
If someone can clarify the matter I'd appreciate it your input.
Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.
Originally posted by ck2rn2005
I'm a little confused here? In the RN Program I'm attending bed making is covered in lecture and lab. So doesn't "bed making" fall under a nurse's scope of practice.
If it doesn't why is it covered in the RN Program?
If someone can clarify the matter I'd appreciate it your input.
Now this post could bring a whole thread's worth of comments about the portrayal of nurses even to nurses in training, and about college student's needing to be taught to make a bed! Oh dear!
yes, we have to do housekeeping duties too. i think as time goes on more and more menial tasks are added onto RN's. not that we are too good to do them, but seems ridiculous to pay an rn to do filing, or cleaning doesn't it? Marie
do rns perform housekeeping duties where you work?
she then walked me down the hall to the housekeeping closet and pointed out the correct bottle of disinfectant i needed to use. she then informed me of the written procedures for cleaning the shower [spray disinfectant on the walls, floors, etc. any surface that the patient may have come in contact with; wait a certain amount of time; then return and rinse the entire shower area down]. 
trish820
82 Posts
I have to jump in on this one, I am the Housekeeping Supervisor on the weekends at the local 180 bed hospital. First of all, thank you to all those nurses that said they would jump in and help because most of the ones where I work WON'T.
The problem at the hospital I work in is during the day we have 15+ housekeepers and then at 3:00 we are down to 4 and me, what a difference huh. I put everyone in a position and then I float around to help everyone out but if we have shortages I have to fill in for people and of course that is of course the night that my pager is going crazy and everyone wants something.
I will be starting RN school in the spring and I am hoping by then the nursing department where I work will have a better attitude towards us in housekeeping, I do put my pants on the same way they do.
Trish
:kiss