RN's required to be sitters???

[anneRN96]

So, our unit decided that if we have low census they are floating us to be "sitters" elsewhere in the hospital. AND apparently we can't refuse. I personally would rather be called off then go sit somewhere. What are your thoughts? Am I just overreacting?

[Okayestdad78]

Though it can be literally mind-numbing as an RN you should be expected to perform all duties within your scope which includes being a sitter. Your fulfilling a patient need. I have had to do this as a unit manager because their was literally no one else.

[riverotter]

My mom was an RN who used to work for an agency where she would get 1:1 jobs (I forget what they're called now). She got paid well to sit with an ill person all night in case something happened; sometimes they were sick, sometimes it was hospice. It was a dream job back then. You can't get those jobs anymore!

[Maq5765]

Yes we get RN pay but the patient is usually not just quietly sleeping when we are sitting. We have combative patients, ones who try and climb over the side rails, get things thrown at us, etc . I am also NICU so I am not used to that so it is a very long 12 hours

[NewRN'16, ADN, RN]

I have done that, plus everything else in between (cleaning floors, unclogging toilets, delivering food from the kitchen, transporting pts where they need to go, etc etc etc)

That safety you provide for the patient is gold. Remember, safety first. Without safety, nothing else matters anymore.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

When I was a hospital CNA I usually drew the sitting jobs. This was on night shift 7P-7A. I didn’t mind for the most part; I had one patient who was on a psych hold for attempted suicide, and we ended up talking almost all night. She figured out pretty quickly that she didn’t really want to *die*, she just wanted the pain to go away. Well, I understand that feeling all too well, and maybe I was able to reach her in a way that most people can’t. I didn’t share my own story with her but I empathized, and by morning she was calmer and her will to live had returned. I like to think I had something to do with that. ?

Still, there were sitting jobs where I just about screamed for mercy. Like the time I was a sitter for this poor woman who was going through the DTs. She was “seeing” giant bugs that she felt were crawling around inside her body, and she kept swatting at them, and me, screaming the whole time. Eight hours of this and I was about ready to join her! Thankfully one of the LPNs saw that I was going off the deep end and volunteered to sit while I took a break, and that was all I needed. Otherwise, I was happy to take the sitting shifts because I was getting paid, which was better than taking a personal day.

[casa_bella, NP]

Y’all who would rather sit must be kidding. When you sit in our hospital, you sit. And stare. For 12 hours. Lucky to get a rr break. Definitely no water or hydration of any kind for 12 hours (only on your lunch if you can get someone to relieve you).

The occasional patient physical attack (sitter had to take fmla). The occasional patient jerking off in front of you while being told to simply “turn around” (different female sitter).

Yep. Easy money. Sounds like a dream.

I called off last time they told me I was going to sit. No regrets.

[casa_bella, NP]

On 7/28/2020 at 6:56 PM, anneRN96 said:

I should also say we sit for 12 hours, no pee break, no lunch breaks because they are too busy ☹

Sounds like the sitter situation where I work

[ScarletPixie]

I used to be frustrated by these things too, but with time comes experience and honestly fatigue. I don’t like to diminish the job of sitters and say think of it as a vacation, but if you get a patient that sleeps, you can get some reading in.
When I worked in the ICU I had a sitter for a detox patient. I was in my other room with a pt circling the drain that was in DIC. I was following the rapid infusion protocol.
So I was relying on my sitter to let me know if anything happened with my detox guy. When I finally got in there I pulled down his blanked to change over his alcohol gtt and he had pulled out his central line while the sitter sat not 18inches from his bed! She said “he did it under the blankets, how was I supposed to know!” (By keeping his hands in sight at all time! He has horrible veins, was an IVDA, and that central line was all we had) I call the intensivist and start putting in a central line, of course he starts seizing while we are putting in the line, so I put in an IO, give Ativan, Md finally gets the line and the point of this story? All of this could have been prevented if I have had an awesome RN floated from another department. Don’t think of it at a diss, just put your feet up, and make sure that pt is safe for 12 hours.

?Scarlet

[Kebner]

I've been a sitter as CNA. Worked as surgical tech, floor CNA, phlebotomist, EKG tech. And, now I've been a RN 6 yrs. As a person, who has worked so many hospitals, and technician positions..I can't feel any sympathy for this situation. Many hospitals have layoffs..I've worked as a sitter, and made 5$ a hour doing it.

This is a poor me situation..suck it up. And, be greatful to have healthcare insurance, a job, vacation time, and getting paid entirely too much to sit.

Listen to these complaints..just sad that some Nurses complain about having to sit.

Many RNs have no job, and mouths to feed at home.

Please, keep complaints a less tedious level?

[Sour Lemon]

5 hours ago, Kebner said:

I've been a sitter as CNA. Worked as surgical tech, floor CNA, phlebotomist, EKG tech. And, now I've been a RN 6 yrs. As a person, who has worked so many hospitals, and technician positions..I can't feel any sympathy for this situation. Many hospitals have layoffs..I've worked as a sitter, and made 5$ a hour doing it.

This is a poor me situation..suck it up. And, be greatful to have healthcare insurance, a job, vacation time, and getting paid entirely too much to sit.

Listen to these complaints..just sad that some Nurses complain about having to sit.

Many RNs have no job, and mouths to feed at home.

Please, keep complaints a less tedious level?

It's always ironic when people complain about other people complaining. ? And yes, I am complaining about your complaining about other people complaining. ?

[Kebner]

Tedious isn't it?

[AmandaB]

This is part of being healthcare really. If you consider yourself above taking on the role of a sitter, I feel bad for any staff you delegate to. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do.