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?
Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.
Originally posted by nursemarie42
not that we are too good to do them, QUOTE]
The real problem is that we are too good (of people) NOT to do what needs doing, even housekeepping, dietary, lab, PT, OT, front office, medical records, RT, whatever!
i agree . there are many aspects of nursing. i've been doing it for a long time and have watched many changes. i work in an ambulatory surgery center and we don't have a housekeeping staff-except the cleaning crew that comes in at noc. so we have to clean up after our selves and others.
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.
I relate and I agree. If I have time to clean then it is done out of courtesy and a sense of pride in my hospital. But in no way should it be expected if it takes away from your nursing duties.
So many years in the hospital, so many different experiences. . .
When I worked Med/Surg I felt we had so little control over so little and so many responsibilities that I would put my foot down and refuse to clean beds/rooms to get a new admit/transfer. I have on the other hand, wiped down toilets, changed trash liners, even mopped the floor with a wet towel because I was tired of almost losing my shoes from the stickiness. But I only did those things as a last resort.
Most of the hospitals I worked for the housekeeping staff seemed to be very busy and kept moving most of the time. There was one special hospital though. . . My husband also worked there as a nurse's aide. He was told part of his duties was to empty all the trash liners in all the patient rooms and nurse's station. He floated to another floor and found out this was housekeeping's duty. Also he was often sent on scouting duties looking for supplies throughout the hospital and in the process he discovered most of the housekeeping hiding spots. The best spots were off the beaten path waiting rooms with doors to them where one could sit without being seen from the doorway.
But understand, most of the places I have worked the housekeeping staff was working as hard as the nursing staff, way understaffed.
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
Then isn't the real problem the improper staffing of housekeeping? I don't do housekeeping duties. That has nothing to do with having an attitute or thinking it's above me, it means I have nursing stuff to do. I'll start cleaning toilets the day the housekeeping staff starts inserting IVs. I just don't have time to do my job and someone else's and I don't feel guilty about it.
Agree that one of the problems may be not enough housekeeping staff, but why hire more housekeeping staff when you can get nursing staff to pick up the slack?
I'm glad eveyone has so much time on their hands that they can do all these extra duties and still manage to take care of patients.
As long as we continue this way it will never end.
A dietary aid once told me she couldn't empty the trash in the patient dining area because she handled food and said she was told not to empty garbage because it might contaminate the food. We touch people ! Sooooo!!!
Of course,everyone should help out in an emergency or a disaster but don't make it an everyday expectation.
Nurses should do nursing care. That's why I spent all that time and hard work in school. I don't want to do the doctor's job, the administrator's job, or the housekeeper's job. Administration is responsible for providing adequate cleaning staff. If patients complain about garbage cans overflowing or dirt on the floor, let them complain to those responsible for keeping the place clean.
It doesn't seem to phase the doctors and I don't see them grabbing the mop or taking out the trash.
wheni was a nursing assistant in an assisted living center, i started "helping" the servers clear tables after breakfast in the morning because the server that was there to do it was always getting out late and had school. I liked her so i helped. well guess what? i was too busy to do it for about a week, and the kitchen supervisor COMPLAINED! She stated that the "aides aren't clearing tables anymore like they are supposed to!" I BLEW UP! I told the manager that it is bad enough that they pull one of us to serve if a server calls in sick, but now they are expecting us to pick up and entirely different PAID POSITION's job duties? I said no way and just because of the complaint i would also no longer be willing to serve breakfast as a "favor" to "help out" if someone calls in sick. Moral of this story? Sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice and "help out".
I don't mind an occasional time that something needs to be done, however, what did I go to college for? I signed on to make a difference in my patients lives, not clean up their space when there should be someone(housekeeping) who gets paid to do that!!
I have a problem sometimes when people try to compare other disciplines to nursing.
For example, I can pick up the slack for housekeeping by emptying trash but housekeeping cannot pick up the slack for me by helping my patient to the bathroom.
I can pick up the slack for respiratory by changing tape on the ET tube or giving a neb treatment, but respiratory cannot pick up the slack for me by changing a central line dressing.
I can pick up the slack for physical therapy by ambulating the patient, but physical therapy cannot pick up the slack for me by educating the patient on drug interactions.
I know these examples are very simplistic, but the point I am trying to make is that nurses are constantly expected to pick up the slack for everybody else, but the favor is seldom returned (at least in my experience)
If there is a problem with housekeeping being able to perform their functions, then the problem is either with the individuals doing the housekeeping or poor staffing of the department. How can either of these problems be addressed properly if we continue to be expected to pick up the slack?
My philosophy about this issue is if you give me an extra $8.00 an hour, I will do ALL the housekeeping...if you give me an additional $10.00 an hour, I'll do EVERYTHING a CNA is supposed to do, but never does. So far, aadmin hasn't taken me up on this offer, so I FREEKING DON'T DO HOUSEKEEPING CHORES! :angryfire
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]. 
ceecel.dee, MSN, RN
869 Posts